Seventh Grade Angst
by LottaHandell90
Summary: Tommy and his friends start 7th grade with a plethora of new issues to deal with, such as teenage romance, new classes,  new friends, and a very cruel new history teacher who ruins their lives, even more than Angelica would even hope to!
1. Chapter 1

_*All recognizable characters are credited to Klasky Csupo *_

* * *

Chapter One

Tommy Pickles stood by the front door of Jim Junior Middle School, reflecting upon the day that was about to enfold. Today was the first day of school. Another year. Another year closer to high school. First, he would have to get through seventh grade.

Seventh grade.

The middle year. Not the oldest nor the youngest.

Wonderful.

He ran a hand through his cropped black hair and sighed, as the thoughts ran through his mind.

Sixth grade had been largely uneventful, after the wild and at times agonizing fifth grade year, in which he and his friends discovered the first glimpse of pre-teenage angst. The whole thing involving Rachel Horwitz had been a disaster, along with the ever-evident distance from his parents, and Dil…

Well, he didn't want to think about Dil. Sixth grade was going to be tough on him, and Tommy, himself, will be busy trying to survive seventh to help him out. One thing he learnt about middle school pre-teenagers was peer pressure. It could either break or make a unique kid like Dil stronger. Tommy desperately hoped it would be the second outcome.

On the other hand, his cousin, Angelica, along with Susie Carmicheal will be starting her freshman year at Wydom High. Tommy didn't know if he and his friends were up for another year of Angelica's ridicule. Even at fourteen, Angelica was cruel and vindictive, but none of her bad deeds could compare with her pre-school days…

Students, all with irked faces, dawdled toward the school. Most of them complained about the fact that school had started up again and summer was not "long enough." A select few seemed genuinely happy about the upcoming year, chatting excitedly about new classes and new teachers.

A couple of students run up toward him. Chuckie Finster, his best friend and his sister Kimi were among the older students walking toward the front entrance. The DeVille twins, identical in age only were not far behind.

"Tommy!" Phil DeVille was the first to greet him. "We going in?"

Tommy shrugged. "I guess."

The five long time best friends walked together into the forbidding school building, all pensive about the daunting seventh grade. Tommy, the clear leader of the friends, Chuckie, the shy and sensitive academic nerd, Phil, the bohemian goof-up, Lil, the unconventional, independent soccer girl, and Kimi, the worldly artist.

The first year without Angelica.

"Where's Dil?" Kimi wondered. "He wasn't on the bus."

"Mom took him to school early. He's in that new acceleration program, remember? He's going to be taking classes with seventh and eight graders."

"Dil? In an acceleration program?" Phil shook his head. "That's like Chuckie's neck of the woods."

Chuckie sighed. Tommy knew that he was nervous enough; he would be taking classes at the high school for a half day, as a part of the program, which meant that he was in eighth/ninth grade, as opposed to seventh with his sister and friends. All the friends felt for him, especially concidering that he would have to spend a half day with Angelica, each day, just when he thought he would be through of her (at least for one year).

"Apparently my little brother decided to be a smart kid," Tommy had a far-away look in his eyes. "It's probably the only thing going for him now."

"The fact that we're his only friends?" Phil said.

"Phillip!" his sister scolded.

"What? It's true."

"Dil never had any luck with the other kids his age. It's not his fault," Kimi stated. "He's just too-"

"Weird?"

"Let's change the subject," Tommy waved a hand. "Who do we all have for homeroom? I got this Stedwell guy. History."

"Me too," Phil and Lil piped up, simultaneously.

"I got Ms. Winston. Geometry," Chuckie took out his schedule. "I heard she's pretty hard."

"I got Ms. Swenson. English." Kimi answered.

"Swenson?" Tommy said. "Angelica and Susie had her."

"Yeah, Susie says I'll be fine."

"What about this Stedwell guy?" Phil made a face, still staring at his schedule. "I've never heard of him."

"That's cuz he's new. I heard that the school got an influx of new teachers over the summer."

The bell suddenly rang.

"Well. Time for the first day of school," Tommy sighed.

"Lunch?" Chuckie said. "Outside at our normal table?"

"Yeah. Be sure to tell Dil, all right? I don't know his schedule."

"All right. Good luck."

"You too."

"Good luck!"

"Bonne chance!"

The friends then set off for their homerooms, all anticipating the year ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Tommy and the twins walked up the stairs toward the history wing, for their homeroom. Not a word was spoken among them, as they made their way toward the classroom.

The room was almost completely bare, with only a bookshelf and a overhead projector, along with the teacher's desk and twenty five student desks.

There were only a few other students that came on the early side, waiting anxiously to meet their homeroom teacher for the year.

"A little nervous, aren't we?" Phil muttered.

Tommy sat down at a desk toward the back of the room. "Yeah. Pretty much. We don't even know what he's like."

"True that. He might be some old guy from an university or one of those lame subs who decided to be a permanent teacher," Phil flopped down in the desk next to Tommy. His twin decided to sit at the front row.

More students then arrived in the classroom, whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Dil Pickles was among them wearing his trademark sherpa hat with a cheerful look on his face. He walked in his also trademark backwards motion toward the second row seat, behind Lil. Tommy made a note to himself, to tell Dil of the lunch plans as soon as the class period was over.

Unfortunately for Dil, an austere looking man followed behind, presumely in a very annoyed mood.

Tommy and the DeVilles observed their new homeroom/history teacher. Stedwell was pretty tall, a lot taller than any of their fathers. He was not old, nor young, but Tommy knew that he could be around thirty-something. He wore dark clothing and his beige hair was cropped neatly.

"You! Young man?" he spoke in a (cockney?) accent. Apparently he was addressing Dil.

"Yes?"

"What do you mean by walking backwards?"

"I usually walk backwards," Dil said. "It's my thing."

The class chortled.

"Silence," the teacher then hissed. The students all deduced that he was indeed Mr. Stedwell, and quieted.

"You could have really gotten someone else hurt or perhaps even yourself, is that right?"

Dil shrugged. "It's never been a problem before."

Most of the boys, including Phil snickered.

"Oh, joy. A smart aleck in the class. Tell me your name." Stedwell ordered, taking out the role sheet.

"Dil Pickles."

"Well, _Dylan Pickles, _its a shame when someone bright and _intelligent _enough to be in the Acceleration Program for Gifted Students, would _stoop _to behave as such."

Dil stared at Stedwell, confused as to why he was being reprimanded.

"Disgrace."

He then took the roll.

"Akins, Tamara."

"Here!"

"Babcock, Lucy."

"Here!"

"Blancas, Evan."

"Here!"

He got to the Ds.

"DeVille, Lillian."

Lil rose her hand. "Present."

It looked like Stedwell rolled his eyes.

"DeVille, Phillip."

"Ova here, my good man."

Stedwell wore a disgusted look, and moved on with the roll.

"Edwards, Tara."

"Here."

"Faulkner, Jeffrey."

"Here."

"Graham, Joseph."

"Here."

"Jackson, Caroline."

"Here."

"Lorner, Luana."

Silence.

"No Lorner? Tsk, tsk, what a pity." Stedwell did not even seem concerned, as he ticked off the name with an Absent.

Soon enough, he got to the Pickles'.

"Of course, our friend _Dylan _is here to _grace _us with his presence and apparently he has a brother. Pickles, Thomas!"

Tommy awkwardly raised his hand. "Here."

After "Zeller, Tanner," was confirmed present, Stedwell wrote his name on the board.

"You will address me as Mr. Stedwell or "Sir", _only_. _Not _Stedwell. _Not _Mr.S. _Not _Steddy. Et cetera, et cetera."

Phil rolled his eyes. This Stedwell dude must be insane to think that any first-year teacher could qualify as a big-shot.

"Now, this is homeroom, so I am required to go over the school handbook and pass out the-"

The door suddenly opened, and a blonde girl wearing a loose-fitting turquoise dress, rushed in the room. She was carrying a bag with the peace sign on it and made out of- henna, perhaps? Unlike most of the girls her age, she wore no makeup and her earrings seemed to resemble doves.

"What do you mean by interrupting me?" Stedwell snapped at the girl.

"Sorry, I'm late. My mother was caught up in traffic," the girl spoke up, in a New England accent.

"No excuse to be late to _my _class. Name?"

The girl seemed unfazed by Stedwell's acerbic nature. "Luana Lorner."

"Ah, yes. Miss. Lorner," he crossed out the "absent" next to her name, and replaced it with a check. "Sit down."

"Yes, sir."

Luana stumbled awkwardly toward the empty desk right next to Dil.

"It's the first day. Cut the girl some slack!" Phil burst out.

"Quite the contrary, Mr. _DeVille. _Miss. Lorner, here, _should_ have planned ahead, so that in the event that the _unexpected _were to happen, she would have been on time to my class."

Phil, in response to this, rolled his eyes.

"Now as I was saying-"

Tommy and Phil whispered amongst themselves, while Stedwell was droning on about homeroom business.

"Who does this guy think he is? The king of the world?" Phil was complaining.

Tommy couldn't even begin to answer his friend's complaint.

"He's not gonna last long in _this _school, I can bet you that! He's probably from some hotshot private school in England or something."

"Probably."

"I wonder if they beat the students where he comes from."

Tommy gulped. "I hope not."

"Mr. Pickles? Mr. DeVille? Do you have something to share with the class?" Stedwell bellowed from the front of the room.

"No, sir," Tommy muttered.

"Then I suggest that the both of you keep your mouths shut, hmm?"

The two slunk back in their seats, praying that this horror of a class would just end.

* * *

Kimi headed toward her newly assigned locker, where she met up with Chuckie. It was passing period between third and fourth. Lunch was just a short period away.

"Hey, Chuck? How was your morning?" she greeted him.

"Uneventful. I think I can kill Geometry. You?"

"Uh- it's good so far."

"Have you had Stedwell yet?"

"No. Why?"

"Word around the school is that he's tough, I mean really, really tough. I saw Tommy coming out of second period, fazed up."

"Dang! It must have been really bad. It's a good thing you're in eighth/ninth grade."

"Yeah. I don't think I would last ten minutes with a teacher like _that."_

"Considering you had Pangborn for gym? Yeah, it _is _a good thing you don't have Stedwell."

Chuckie's face reddened. "Gee, thanks, Kimi."

"Always happy to cheer you up, big bro."

Lil ran up to them.

"Chuckie! Kimi! Thank God!"

"Hey, girl! What's happening?" Kimi greeted her best friend.

"Ugh. Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Chuckie uttered.

"Stedwell did the most aggro thing ever!- by the way Chuckie, your face is red."

Chuckie groaned, and turned away.

"What happened, Lil?" Kimi pressed.

"He gave some guy detention for being ten minutes late to his third period class!"

"On the first day of school?" Kimi gaped. "The guy is sadistic."

"Yup, and he tormented Dil in homeroom today."

"Oh my God. How awful."

"You bet. When do you have him?"

"Fourth period," groaned Kimi. "Any advise for someone who hasn't met him yet?"

"Speak only when spoken to and obey all rules."

"Heh. Don't worry, Lil. I got it."

The two minute warning bell rang, and the friends head off in different directions.

*_Thanks so far for the reviews. Keep 'em coming! *_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The bell rang for lunch period, and Dil left his fourth period English class. Walking slowly toward his locker he heard a vaguely familiar voice calling at him.

"Hey! Hey, you!"

The blonde girl from homeroom, Luana was it? slipped over toward him.

"Ha, we're locker neighbours!" she smiles, opening her locker.

Dil nodded. "Cool."

The two then switched their books in silence.

Luana held out a hand to him. "My name's Luana, if you don't already know. You're Dylan, right?"

"Yeah. Dil Pickles. Are you new?"

"Yes. We moved here from Massachusetts."

"Massachusetts? So, you came all the way cross-country?"

"Pretty much. We drove for almost a week."

"How do you like California?" Dil then asked, as the two made their way to the cafeteria.

"California is interesting. I always thought that it was just filled with plastics and movie stars."

Dil laughed." They're only found in LA. We live in the Oakland area, where its a lot more- cultured-"

"Ah. I see. What about you?"

"Me?"

"You walk backwards, wear a sherpa hat, and have this infectious personality. It is not my idea of a stereotype Californian."

"Although my cousin Angelica is the perfect stereotype Californian. Don't tell her I said that."

Luana laughed a little. "I won't. Is she older or younger?"

"She's older. She's a freshman at Wydom High."

"Ah. Does she ridicule you?"

"Yes, she does. She has been since we were babies."

"How appalling! I have been through it myself."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. People used to borrow my things without permission. Quite rude, to be blunt."

People _stole _from her? Dil was bewildered. This girl was so nice…

Dil headed for the lunch line to get his lunch, with Luana following behind with her own lunch bag.

"Angelica always would term me a "weirdo." I could say it fits."

"What about your brother?"

"Tommy? Oh, he's pretty accepting to a point. We're cool."

At that moment, Tommy and the DeVille twins approached the two.

"Hey, Dil! You comin'?" Phil wanted to know.

"To eat with you?" Dil raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah-" Tommy trailed off. "I forgot to bring it up after first period today. I was so freaked about that Stedwell."

"It's cool, T. Stedwell's nothing," Dil waved a hand.

Luana stood there next to him. "Hello, Thomas. Phillip. Lillian."

The three seventh graders wave awkwardly.

"Uh-?" Lil motioned at her, embarrassed.

"Luana Lorner. I am Dylan's friend, and I'm also in your homeroom."

Dil's ears perked up. Friend? After only chatting for a few minutes? He'll take it. She is more like him, than any of the kids he knew.

"Oh! You're the girl who seemed unaffected by Stedwell's pompous "authority."

Luana made a small giggle at Lil's use of air quotes. "Precisely. I'm pleased to meet Dylan's brother and friends."

"Uh- Dil?" It was Phil's turn to be embarrassed. "You gonna come to lunch with us or what?"

Dil turned quickly toward Luana and back toward the others. "Uh- I was kind of hoping that I'd hang with Luana- just get to know her a little better."

Tommy and Phil nodded.

"It's alright, Dil," Lil said kindly. "It's nice to see you're making a new friend."

"Thanks, Lil. I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Sure, Dil," Tommy said, breaking his surprised state of mind.

"Nice to meet you, Luana," Phil said.

"Likewise."

Dil received his lunch and headed outside with Luana toward the patio area. Tommy and the twins, in turn, chatted while getting their lunch.

"Wow, I never thought Dil would make a new friend _that _quickly, and- and with a _girl!" _Lil commented.

"Stranger things have happened," Phil shook his head.

Dil, meanwhile, headed toward an empty table by the trees, with Luana following closely behind.

"So- you don't really associate with the sixth graders?" she was asking him.

"Nope. I've never been popular here at school. Tommy is my brother and his friends- hang out with me, since they've known me through him, you know?"

"Ah, yes. So you never made a friend on your own?"

The two sat down and began eating their lunch. Dil with his questionable lunch meat and Luana with her unusual lunch from home.

"Unless that friend was an imaginary alien friend? No."

"Oh. That's too bad. How about I become your unimaginary human friend?"

"Okay. Sure. Luana Lorner, Dil Pickles' unimaginary human friend. I like it."

Dil saw the hummus and tabbouleh that Luana was eating.

"You're a vegetarian?"

"Yes. We all are- well- my parents and I. We tried to be vegan for a year, but we were unsuccessful. We need our milk, you know?"

Dil agreed. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Chuckie's the closest I know that has a strict diet, since he's allergic to a lot of things."

"And what is _that _you are eating there, Dylan?"

"Mystery meat," Dil poked at his lunch.

"Ah- _interesting._"

"What?"

"How can a school get away with serving meals like this?"

"It's cheaper, I guess," Dil shrugged.

"It's a travesty, Dylan," Luana was shaking her head.

"You make a good point. I mean, how do you know that there's no toxic waste in this thing?"

Luana laughs. "Hopefully, you won't succumb to it."

"I know. There might a lawsuit or something."

Luana then passed the hummus dish to Dil. "Would you like some of my lunch?"

"Really?"

"Yes! Try it, Dylan. You'll like it."

"Okay, I suppose."

Dil spread some of the hummus on pita bread and tasted it.

"Hm- this is good!"

"Ah, you like it then?"

"Yeah. This stuff is great."

"Wicked. I'll just get my mom to pack extra tomorrow."

"She won't mind?"

"No, no, no. She loves doing stuff like so."

Dil nodded.

"So, we're going to be sitting together tomorrow?"

"Well, that's what friends do, right?"

Dil smiled.

"Right."

* * *

Kimi and Chuckie were able to meet Tommy and the twins for their usual lunch get-together, installed in place since the first day of middle school, seemingly ages ago.

Kimi kept griping about how unfair Stedwell was in her class today.

"And then he had the utter _nerve _to mock my name!" Kimi threw up her hands. "I'm Japanese for Pete's sake! So, it would be utterly and completely normal to have a name like mine!"

Lil shook her head. "I have no idea what Principal McKinney saw in him to hire him to this position."

"What's the point of complaining?" Phil shrugged. "We never see McKinney anyways."

"Still, Vice Principal Pangborn should have done something!" Kimi's voice was rising with frustration. "It's an embarrassment to have a teacher like that teaching us!"

Tommy and Phil chortled.

"Sorry, Kimi, but Pangborn would have been happy to hire a jerk like Stedwell," Chuckie sighed.

"Typical! Just typical!"

"Relax Kim. He ain't gonna last long anyway," Phil assured. "I'm sure someone, somehow, will make the guy crack and he'll do something so bad, he'll get fired."

"Maybe."

Tommy was silent.

"What's wrong, Tommy?" Chuckie wondered. "Still worried about Dil?"

"Uh-"

"He'll be fine. He's with a new friend."

Tommy peeked over near the trees, where Dil and Luana were talking animatedly.

"Yeah. I know. It's just-"

"He'll be fine, Tommy," Kimi, who was still in a nasty mood, sniped at him. "Quit worrying."

Tommy nodded.

The bell rang.

"Well, time for afternoon classes," sighed Lil.

"Good luck at the high school with Ange, Chuck!" Phil said cheerfully at a clearly nervous Chuckie.

Chuckie uttered a long moan.

"Relax, Chuck. You'll do great," Kimi assured her brother. "Just- if you see Angelica and if she bothers you in any way, ignore her."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to spend a half day at the same school as her."

"Bonne chance, bro."

Chuckie sighed, as he got up from the table. He then gathered his books and headed for the bus area.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Chuckie arrived at the small bus stop right near the bus entrance of the middle school, obviously in a very stressed out mood. He glanced at his wristwatch. 12:20. The bus would be here at twelve thirty to take him and a few other gifted seventh and eighth graders to the high school for their afternoon classes, that they would take with ninth grade students.

Ninth grade. Angelica's grade level. As if it was bad enough that Chuckie and Angelica had at least one class together all throughout middle school.

He sat down next to a pensive young girl about the same age as himself, who had her nose in a thick novel. Her long wavy chestnut hair hung far past her shoulders and she wore a conservative flannel skirt and matching plain coloured top, quite the contrast to his unconventional, arty sister and even Lil, who often wore fashionable clothing. Chuckie knew he hadn't seen her before, so he guessed she was new.

"H-hi," he mumbled shyly to her.

"Hello," she responded, also shy, not looking up from her book. Chuckie noticed that she spoke in an Australian or New Zealand accent.

There was silence among them, as several other gifted kids showed up. A couple greeted Chuckie, friendlily. Although he mightily enjoyed spending time with Tommy, Dil, Kimi and the twins, Chuckie especially felt at ease with his fellow "nerds." They had gone through generations of ridicule and torment from the popular kids (i.e. cheerleaders and jocks) Angelica included.

He turned back toward the new girl, who seemed unbothered by his presense. She did not seem the stereotypical "nerd." Then again, Susie Carmichael is no nerd, and she gets the highest grades of her class…

"Uh- are you new?" he tried again with her.

"Huh?" the girl was now finally paying attention to him, and she looked up at him.

Chuckie had to hold his breath for a second. This girl seemed particularly pretty- naturally pretty- since she wore no make up or lip gloss, like Angelica and Lil would. Her eyes, Chuckie noticed, were a glimmering amber.

She blushed. "I'm s-sorry. I was so deep into reading, I did not even notice you."

"You said 'hi," Chuckie stumbled over his words. "I do that all the time, you know, I'm working on something or I'm reading something- and I somehow block out all of- my surroundings, you know?"

Real smooth Chuckie, his mind echoed.

"I'm Harmonie Gillett. To answer your question, I am new. I come from Sydney, Australia."

"Chuckie Finster. I'm from- here. Are you in the acceleration program also?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to be in Year eight, but I take high school classes half the day."

"I'm in eighth grade too! I mean I started out in the year below me, but then I got pushed up to- the year above."

"That's great! I haven't really made any friends yet. It's- been pretty hard."

Why would it be hard for a pretty, yet intelligent girl like her to make friends? Chuckie wondered.

"What about you, Chuckie?"

"I have friends- my sister, Kimi, my best friend Tommy, his brother Dil who's also in the acceleration program, and Phil and Lil. They're all in seventh grade- Dil's technically in sixth- but in seventh nevertheless."

"I would like to meet them."

"Sure you can. They're all really nice."

Harmonie changed the subject. "What classes do you have?"

The pair then compared schedules.

"Ninth grade Honors English, Biology, and Honors Spanish 2," Chuckie responded.

"Ah! We have English and Biology together!" she exclaimed.

"What's your other class?"

"Precalculus."

Chuckie stared at her dumbfounded. "You're kidding."

"I am not kidding. Look at the schedule."

"But- how? You're only- well- eighth grade age and Pre-Cal is usually taken by eleventh and twelfth graders even!"

"I was homeschooled from age three until eleven, and then attended private school for a couple years. If it was up to my academic standards, I'd graduate high school by the time I would turn fifteen."

Chuckie gaped at her. "Wow! The only person I know who graduated high school that early was Edwin, Susie's brother."

"Sadly, It's not up to me what grade I'm in," Harmonie sighed. "My parents, bless them, worry about me enough as it is. This program could be opportune for me. I'll still be in "eighth grade," but I'll still graduate high school early, at seventeen, and probably have enough credits to finish university in three-and-a-half years or even less than that."

"That's pretty good. So, you take school seriously?"

"Very seriously."

Chuckie turned toward the other direction and whispered, with hands clasped together. "Thank you!"

He turned back toward Harmonie. "I wonder if the bus will ever get here."

"It's here now," she pointed toward the bus pick up. Just as she said that, a smaller version of a school bus finally appeared to take them to Wydom.

"Come on. You can sit next to me," she then friendlily said to Chuckie.

He nervously followed her on the bus and they both sat toward the front of the bus. The others then got on, and the grumpy looking old bus driver that reminded Chuckie of a less friendly version of Tommy's Grandpa Lou drove them away from Jim Junior Middle and closer toward Wydom High.

Closer to Angelica.

"Are you all right, Chuckie? Do you get motion sickness?" Harmonie had noticed Chuckie's increasing nerves.

Chuckie appreciated her concern, but only answered, "No, no. I took my medicine just as lunch period was over. I'm- just-"

"It's okay to be nervous. This has the feeling of any freshman who's starting at high school."

"Yeah," Chuckie mumbled with a whimper.

"I'll be tormented for sure," he then looked out the window.

"Who torments you?"

There was no hiding anything from Harmonie Gillett.

"My best friend Tommy's cousin Angelica. She is the perfect example of the mean, but vain witch who wants to date shallow but good-looking jocks, shops compulsively, and ridicules anyone who doesn't follow her example (i. e. me and my friends, but especially ME)."

Chuckie took a deep breath after blurting out his feelings toward Angelica.

After taking a whiff on his inhaler, he mumbled an apology.

"It's okay, Chuckie. I was bullied too."

"Who would bully you? You're so nice, and so smart."

"Exactly the reasons why I was bullied. I was seen as a loser know-it-all."

"I don't think you're a loser know-it-all."

"I'm glad. And- don't worry about Angelica. We'll just stick together, that way we'll seem less vulnerable to the popular kids."

"Okay."

Chuckie instantly felt better. He knew that as long as Harmonie was around, he would always feel safe about going to Wydom.

* * *

"Hey, Finster! Who's your new geek friend?"

Angelica Pickles, Chuckie's worst nightmare in the form of a fourteen-year-old blonde girl, clad in makeup and lip gloss and fashionable, trendy clothes that Lil wouldn't even see herself wearing, was standing toward the entrance of Wydom High School, with a couple of other freshman girls.

Harmonie did not seemed at all effected by her.

"My name is Harmonie Gillett. You must be Angelica."

Angelica raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what has Finster been telling you about me?"

"It's none of your business, Angelica. In case you haven't heard, I made a new friend- who likes me for me and not because their parents make a lot of money!" Chuckie retorted.

"That's _real _cute, Finster," Angelica rolled her eyes. "You made a new friend. What, is she a big a nerd as you?"

"'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me,'" Harmonie bravely quoted.

Angelica made a scoffing noise and walked off with her new friends following behind. She had to get away from the nerd-fest.

It was still lunch period at the high school; it would end in about twenty minutes, so Angelica headed for the cafeteria to scope out the freshman area.

Toward the media center, she spotted Susie Carmichael and Harold Rumpkin, her two- well- closer "real" friends chatting excitedly with Finster and that Harmonie girl.

Of course Carmichael and Rumpkin would hang out with a couple of losers like Finster and Gillett.

Whatever. She didn't give a crap what they did anyway. Her greatest rival in middle school, Savannah Shannon, moved away to Orlando, Florida (her dad got some hotshot job at the theme park or something) so after a semester and summer of brown-nosing and manipulation, she slipped right into Savannah's place as the most popular girl in her grade. She'll try out for the cheer-leading squad, maybe scope out for a guy. This was going to be a great year for her, regardless of what Finster and his loser friends will do…

She inadvertently collided with someone.

"Watch where you're going, loser!" she immediately cried out.

"You watch it!"

The other kid was a vaguely familiar blond boy of about her age. Now that she thought about it, the kid was in a couple of her classes.

"Dalton Merrington, right? Of the Massachusetts Merringtons?" she then asked of him.

"And _you're _Angelica Pickles. What kind of surname is _Pickles?"_

_ "_It's American, Mr. Hotshot," Angelica glared at him. She was definitely not in the mood for any more drama, now that Finster was now in the same school as she was.

"I would expect this from a tasteless public school schoolgirl."

"Look who's talking!" Angelica motioned at him.

"For your _information, _I did not particularly choose to go to this atrocious school. My mother, insane as she is, wanted to put me here, for it is closer to home than the school I _originally _wanted to attend."

"So sorry," Angelica said, but knew she did not mean it.

She then started for the lockers, with the snob boy rushing after her.

"You're not _really _sorry."

"Newsflash, I'm not a nice person," Angelica retorted back at him.

"Well, here's another newsflash, I don't care."

She whirled around to face him. "I don't care either, Merrington. Here's the first rule about public school, okay? The fact that you're from a rich family- it doesn't matter. You have to _earn _your popularity, like I have."

"Please! You only got popular, because Savannah Shannon moved to Florida."

"How'd- you-" Angelica spluttered. Dalton only smirked at her.

"I observe the other losers in our grade level. Apparently, they were desperate for a popular leader to replace Savannah."

Angelica was furious. "You _dare _to insult me?"

"Yes. I dare."

The bell then rang, signaling the end of lunch period.

"This isn't over, Merrington!" Angelica shouted, as she headed to her fifth period.

"Ah, but it has only just began, Pickles."

Exit Savannah Shannon. Enter Dalton Merrington.

* * *

*_ I hope the story is great so far. Yes, I did add some OCs in the mix, they will be major factors in the year to come for the recognizable. _

_About couples... none will be seriously intact as of yet. CF/AP may be possible (I love the idea; their life could resemble a sitcom!), SC/HR is very possible, Dil WILL end up with an OC (most likely Luana since they're both so unique) , and CF/OC, AP/ OC, TP/KF, PD/KF, TP/LD, PD/OC, LD/OC are other possibilities I could select from._

_Keep reading and reviewing. It helps :) *_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Friday. The best day of the week during the school year. This year around, Tommy was particularly pleased with the prospect, given the circumstances…

"Pickles!" he heard someone bellow his name. Not Pangborn but…

Stedwell stood over his desk, very displeased. Now that there were assigned seats in his class, Tommy was now in the front row and unable to enjoy the chance to exchange barbs and complaints with Phil. Phil, in turn, was now in the third row, as far away from Tommy as possible without being way back in the back row.

He missed Max. At least he never made "assigned seats."

"I had asked you a question about the homework. Did you not complete it?"

He heard a quiet scoff from Lil.

"Yeah, I completed it."

"Don't back-chat me, boy. Answer my question!"

"About what?"

"What are the five themes of geography, Mr. Pickles?"

"Uh-"

"Disgrace! Apparently one is a little too eager for the weekend, hmm?"

"Whoo hoo! TGIF!" Phil cried from the third row.

"A week's detention for you, DeVille, for disrupting my class."

"A WEEK?"

"Did I s-stutter, boy? A week's detention starting Monday."

"Unfair! I was only making a point. The weekends are exciting, fun, enjoyable-"

"Keep it up, DeVille, and you'll get _two_ weeks."

"Yes, _sir." _

_ "_Now the five themes of geography are-"

Tommy sighed heavily as Stedwell droned on about geography that he had clearly learned in sixth grade, and even in fifth, with Max demonstrating a fun song to show the importance of geography.

The memories. How he missed them…

The bell rang, and Tommy drew a deep breath. Free at last.

"You will have a test on this information on Monday. Look over the study guide and_ maybe_ you dunderheads will pass," Stedwell sneered, as the students left for second period.

"Who does he think he is, eh?" Phil was angry. "Giving me a week's detention just for being excited for the weekend!"

Tommy shook his head. "I'm just worried about passing this test on Monday."

"Oh, we'll pass! Don't you worry about that! We learned this stuff, waaaay back in fifth grade with Max!"

"The best history teacher we ever had."

"Now we have the _worst _history teacher we ever had."

"Amen to that, Phil."

* * *

It was worse during Kimi's period. Fourth period classes were usually the worst, as they were right before lunch.

Especially on Fridays.

She sat at the front of the class thanks to Stedwell's unfair seating charts. Thanks to that seating chart, she was forced to actually pay attention to his boring, dull lectures. Forced to look at him. Forced to feel his horrid warm breath as he lectured, right- in- front- of- her.

"Now if you imbeciles would just _pay _attention- you would have understood-"

That's it!

"Who cares?"

He swiveled around to see an angry, flustered Kimi about to burst out.

"We learned this geography crap in sixth grade! Why can't we start the first unit in the frickin textbook as opposed to the_ introduction_? You know, Africa?"

"Yeah!" an African-American boy asserted.

"You had better hush up, Miss. Finster. I am not in the mood."

"You don't deserve to teach us history!" she then stood up.

"Yeah!" most of the class cried, standing up.

"And- and- these assigned seats are a joke!"

"SIT DOWN!"

Silence. The students then rapidly sat back down at their desks.

"You have gone _over the line, _girl! Two week's detention, starting Monday. "

Kimi sat there, unafraid and indifferent to Stedwell's threatening tone.

"Okay," she only said.

Stedwell then returned to the board. "You will be given a pop quiz, thanks to Miss. Finster's cheek."

The class then groaned.

"SHUT UP!"

He then wrote five questions on the board, and hissed, "You have five minutes. Anyone who talks will be sent out and given a week's detention."

There was now complete silence in the room, save for the soft weepings of the shy Asperger's girl in the back corner as she tried to focus on the pop quiz.

Kimi glared at him, as she scribbled her answers to the pop quiz on a blank sheet of paper. Stedwell _will _be fired at semester's end. If not, at _year's _end. He could yell loudly and give her a thousand week's detention. But the line was crossed, when he made a student shed tears due to his cruelty.

* * *

"What a travesty!" Luana was exclaiming to Dil, later that day at lunch. The two were splitting hummus and pita bread.

"I heard," Dil said. "Phil got a week's detention today in homeroom, and Kimi got two weeks, just last period."

"I do not envy their situation at all. When they cross a harsh teacher like so-"

"Bad things happen," Dil finished.

"Exactly, Dylan, which is why both of us should be wary of him. No matter how unfair his practices are, we must keep a low profile."

"I agree," Dil said, eating a piece of hummus on pita. "I can't afford to get detentions. They may throw me out of the program."

"Ditto to that," Luana nodded.

Tommy walked over to their table.

"Hey, guys. We need you."

"Why is that, Thomas?" Luana wondered. "Is there something wrong?"

"Kimi's pissed off major. Phil is hardly speaking. Chuckie is suspiciously pleased with life. Lil and I need you."

"We might as well," Dil sighed. "It sounds if they do need our eccentricities, eh Luana?"

"Precisely, Dylan. Let us move on to Thomas' table, shall we?"

"We shall."

Tommy sighed, heavily, as he led the two eleven-year-olds to his table, where a fuming Kimi, an annoyed Phil, a deliriously happy Chuckie, and a distressed Lil were waiting.

"Greetings, Phillip, Lillian, Kimi, Charles!" Luana said in a cheerful voice.

The four gave little, unconcerned waves. Kimi and Chuckie muttered hellos, Lil greeted them more enthusiastically, Phil just gave a grunt.

"So, how is everyone today?" Luana then posed a question, as she and Dil sat down at the table.

"Horrid," grumbled Kimi.

"It sucked," Phil added, irked.

"My day was pretty good," Lil was more chatty. "Stedwell was a hopeless bore, but the rest of my morning was good. Today in my English class, we're reading short stories."

"Riveting!" Luana exclaimed. "My class is reading this story about a boy who finds himself."

"We're starting _To Kill a Mockingbird_ in my class today," Chuckie finally spoke up.

"Is it about a mockingbird?" Dil was confused.

"No, it's a lot deeper than that. There's issues about race, crime-"

"Race? You mean that of the relations between people like us and African-Americans, like Susie?"

"Yeah. You may think that now every thing's all going well and everyone's getting on harmoniously, when there is still work to be done in the world. Harmonie has told me that even in Australia, minorities still struggle to live fully equal among the ruling class. And- it's the same here, she says. Minorities, particularly African Americans and Latinos are still struggling to find common ground with the ruling class-"

"Because _some _of the ruling class will _not _even teach the next generation even a measly _month _about Africa, when clearly there should be much more than that dedicated to it," Kimi started, her voice raising with every word she spoke. "_Some _people just seem _intact_ with teaching only the _basics, _just so they could get by in life and not have to worry about causing _trouble_!"

"Stedwell again?" Chuckie then said. The DeVilles and Tommy nodded in the affirmative.

"O-kay. So what's everyone's plans for the weekend?" Dil then asked.

"Shut your hole, Dil!"

* * *

*_Whoa there! It's getting intense! Keep reading and reviewing! They really help. *_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The Java Lava was hopping as usual, as it would on Saturdays. Chuckie was hard at work at the counter, taking drink orders, while Kimi was behind him, making the drinks. Chas, Chuckie and Kimi's father is the majority owner of the Java Lava, with their mother Kira and Phil and Lil's mom, Betty owning a certain percentage throughout its ten years of existence. Therefore, the Finster kids have "unofficial jobs," which would help them in terms of allowance.

Tommy, Phil and Lil were sitting at their usual table by the cyber area, where a fifth grade boy was playing games and two high school students were surfing the web.

Tommy looked at his watch worriedly. "Man, where is Dil? He said he'd meet us here at one, and it's a quarter past."

Phil took a sip of his blueberry smoothie. "Dunno. Where is he anyway?"

"He went with Luana to the grocery store to get stuff for baba ganoush."

"With your mom?"

"Yeah. Luana apparently is joining us for dinner."

"Wow, after a week of knowing each other?" Lil wondered.

Tommy groaned. "Right when Dil first told Mom and Dad about Luana, Mom went on her "Lipschitz breakthrough" mode, crying that Dil had "finally made a friend that wasn't imaginary." Thus, the grocery store trip this morning."

Phil and Lil just shook their heads.

"No comment," Phil then took another sip.

"How's everyone doing?" Kimi walked over to her friends. It was now her break time.

"So-so. We're waiting on Dil," Phil answered.

"He's bringing Luana to the Java Lava for the first time," Lil added.

"This should be interesting," Kimi said. "Hopefully she'll like smoothies."

"I'm sure she will," Tommy said. "Being a vegetarian means she won't eat meat, but will eat anything else?"

"Pretty much. Unless she's allergic to a lot of things like Chuckie."

Dil then appeared in the coffeehouse with Luana in tow, both in cheerful moods. Luana, in particular, was carefully peering around the Java Lava, with a pensive look on her face.

"You said this was the coffeehouse, Dylan?"

"Yep. They also serve smoothies and stuff like that for the kids."

Luana was still looking around. "It's funny. I fancied this place to resemble a Starbucks."

"Starbucks?" Phil had heard their conversation. He, Lil and Tommy then waved the two newcomers toward their table, as Kimi returned to the counter to help her brother.

"I have only been to one coffeehouse, a Starbucks, only once in my life," Luana explained. "Horrific experience."

"This place is different," Lil said. "It's a lot more- original- and it's a _real _coffeehouse. Starbucks is just a cheap, chain imitation."

"Do you like smoothies?" Phil wondered. "It's fruit, mixed in with milk and ice cream-"

"Ah, Phillip. I know what a smoothie is!" Luana was laughing. "Mom makes smoothies for us every morning for breakfast. Granted we have ours with yogurt as opposed to ice cream-"

"Awesome!" Tommy exclaimed, a tad nervously. "Why don't you and Dil go stand in line? Chuckie and Kimi make a mean smoothie."

"All right. Let us not tarry, Dylan."

The two then head for the line.

"Everything seems smooth so far," Phil shrugged.

Tommy was increasingly nervous. "Yeah. Smooth," he squeaked.

Lil then slapped his arm. "Tommy, what in the heck is wrong with you? Why are you so freaked about Dil and Luana being here? It's not like they're going to embarrass us here. Dil's weird to the max, and he's been going here for years, without any problems. What could be so bad about _two _of them?"

"It's not _that, _Lil. It's the dinner tonight. What if it's a disaster?"

"Oh yeah!" Phil realized. "What if something bad happens and Dil or you gets embarrassed, like with Rachel-"

"Shut it, Phil!" his sister scolded.

Phil instantly closed his mouth.

"This is serious, guys," Tommy sighed, head in his hands. "This is the very first time that Dil has _ever _had anyone at our house for dinner. Mom is going to _humiliate _him."

"Huh, good point," Lil said. "I seriously doubt that Luana even knows about Didi's long-time preoccupation with Dr. Lipschitz."

Tommy groaned. "We have to hope that Luana's really, really, _really _cool with it."

"I'm sure she will be," Phil assured. "She seems cool with Dil's obsession with aliens."

"PHILLIP!"

"Sorry."

Dil and Luana returned with smoothies in hand.

"Greetings, comrades!" Luana smiles.

"Hey, Luana," Lil greeted, friendlily, as Dil and Luana both sat down with her, Phil and Tommy.

"So what is the "haps?" as you would say?" she then asked of everyone.

"We're just chillin'." Phil replied. "Tommy, here, is a little nervous about dinner tonight."

"Ah, yes! He has told you about me joining the Pickles' for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. He's afraid his mom will embarrass him and Dil in front of you."

Tommy, in turn, still had his head in his hands. "Why- say it, Phil?"

"Strike three, you're out," Lil kicked her twin under the table.

"OW!"

Dil and Luana giggled at this.

"We had a wonderful time at the grocery," Luana was now saying. "Mrs. Pickles is such a delight to be around. She is very excited about dinner tonight, Thomas. I hope baba ganoush is satisfactory. Dylan and I came up with the idea."

"You don't say?" Tommy muttered.

"Aw, cheer up, T," Dil then wrapped a comforting arm around his brother's shoulders. "Mom isn't going to embarrass us. Luana is cool."

"My little brother comforting me?" Tommy looked up. "What's wrong with this picture?"

The twins laugh a little.

"Relax yourself, T. We brothers have to help each other, you know?"

"Wicked wise, Dylan," Luana chimed in.

* * *

Angelica was alone with her thoughts, as she walked through town toward the Java Lava. Her first week at Wydom High School had been up-and-down, to be truthful. Dalton Merrington, or whatever his damn name was had become a thorn in her side. Whether he was trumping her in class with correct answers, or attracting the attention of her recent admirers, Merrington was constantly trying to make her life miserable.

Then there was Finster and his new friend. Harmonie Gillett. Finster seemed- braver and more confident with the girl always hanging around him. Angelica chuckled at the thought of Finster actually having a girlfriend.

She inched closer to the Java Lava, taking out her cellphone to check if she received any new texts from anyone, mainly Susie, to see if she had already arrived at the coffeehouse.

Sure enough, Susie had texted back that she was already there, waiting.

Angelica then stopped at the Java Lava location, and walked in.

She observed Dil and his weird new friend chatting with Tommy and the DeVilles. Chuckie and Kimi were also surrounding them; Betty had just come in for her shift.

Susie sees her.

"Hey, Angelica!" she greeted her.

"Whatever Carmichael," Angelica only sighed heavily.

"Angelica, you have to be a good sport about this whole thing. Chuckie and Harmonie have no interest in being in the popular group."

"Well, no duh! They're the biggest losers I have ever laid eyes on!"

Susie shook her head and sighed.

"So- this mood you're in- it's more about Dalton Merrington?"

"Well, duh, Carmichael! Merrington has _crossed the line! _It took me six months- _six months, _Carmichael, to take over Savannah's spot as the most popular girl in our class. And now he thinks he can become popular in _only one week? _It's a sham, I tell you!"

"Um hmm," Susie nodded, with lips pursed. Apparently, she did not buy this.

"We have _got_ to prove to the ninth grade student body that Merrington is only an interloping phony."

"And how do you propose to do _that?" _Susie demanded.

"Yeeeaaahh. I'm still thinking of an idea."

Susie slapped her palm on her forehead, wondering how she was going to talk some sense into that girl.


	7. Chapter 7

* _Sorry for the delay. College and writer's block will do that to you. Here's Chapter Seven. Please keep reading and reviewing! *_

* * *

Chapter Seven

Tommy, anxious and jittery, mentally prepared himself for dinner later that day. He reflected on the day that enfolded, as he combed his hair in the bathroom. He heard Dil singing to himself in an intelligible alien language that he picked up from a book he had bought from that odd curio shop downtown.

Granted he was happy for Dil for finding a new friend he could relate to, he was just praying that their mom doesn't embarrass them and run her off.

He went back in his room, still apprehensive.

"Hey, T?" Dil's voice echoed from the hallway.

"Dil? What's up?"

"Just wanted to know if you were okay."

"I'm o-okay, I guess. You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good- no I'm great! This dinner's gonna be a great one!"

Dil then returned to his room, still singing the alien song.

The doorbell rang, and Tommy could hear Dil rush down the stairs to answer the door.

He followed behind, just to make sure he didn't slip and fall or something.

Luana stood there dressed up in a snow white hemp summer dress.

"Ah, Dylan! I hope I am not too late?"

"No, you're early, in fact. Come on in."

Luana walked in the house and looked around.

"You live in a nice house, Dylan."

"Oh, thanks."

At that moment, Tommy wondered what kind of weird house Luana and her family lived in.

"Dil?" he then uttered.

"Oh, good evening Thomas," Luana greeted.

"Hey," he greeted back, then told Dil, "You ought to tell Mom and Dad that Luana is here."

"Yes, I'll get right on it."

Dil then ran off, leaving Tommy alone with Luana.

"So-um- nice evening, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

Tommy shifted from one foot to another, obviously nervous. "So, are your parents okay with you being here- I mean do they know you're here?"

"Yes, they know. They were very excited for me- they practically pushed me out the door!"

"Really? They were _that _excited for you to come over?"

"It's the first time that I have ever been over to any friend's house for dinner."

"The very first?"

"Yes. You shocked?"

"Uh- a little, and you seem so calm."

Luana only smiled and nodded at this.

Dil returned with their mother, Didi, who had her cooking apron on.

"Hello, Luana is it?"

"Yes, good evening Mrs. Pickles. I hope I'm not terribly early or-"

"No, no, no. We're delighted to have you!"

Apparently.

Didi, Dil, and Luana departed to the kitchen soon after exchanging greetings with their dad, Stu, who was working downstairs in the basement.

He and Tommy sat on the couch, while the others were cooking dinner.

"So, Dil's got himself a new friend, huh?" Stu then said.

"Yep, they've been eating lunch together everyday. It's like they've known each other forever."

"Does it bother you? I mean Dil used to hang out with you and the others all the time-"

"No, I mean- it doesn't bother me at all. I'm happy for Dil. He needs to be able to make friends on his own, especially now."

"Yeah, I'm glad he is to. Your mom and I have been so worried."

"Dil will be fine. I know it."

"DINNER!" Didi cried from the kitchen.

* * *

The baba ganoush was served and it was immediately a hit in the Pickles' household. Even Tommy seemed to enjoy it. However, some of his servings went to his long time dog Spike, who has not aged gracefully in the past decade of life, and the yawning, bored Spiffy.

"So, Luana? What do your parents do for a living?" Didi started the conversation.

"My father is a zoologist and writer for the _Oakland Inquirer. _Mom is a naturalist and a painter."

"Goodness! What an interesting mix. Are they able to juggle everything?"

"Oh, yes. It's amazing how they're able to live through each day and still be able to be there as parents. What about you, Mrs. Pickles? Dil told me a little about you and Mr. Pickles. He's a free-lance inventor and you teach at the local high school-"

"Yes, yes. That is true. I teach Introduction to Psychology."

"Ah. Psychology. What a fascinating subject. My mom almost studied it in college."

"Mom went back to school a few years ago to study child psychology," Dil pointed out.

And there it started. Didi went on and on about Dr. Lipschitz, and Tommy feared for Luana's patience. Luckily, she listened actively as Didi kept on chatting about the subject. It seemed to Tommy that Luana _never _got bored. He had to give her props.

Thankfully dinner ended, and the Pickles kids along with Luana sat down in the living room and talked, while their parents cleaned up in the kitchen.

"Uh- I hope dinner was all right," Tommy started.

"Dinner was fantastic, Thomas," Luana assured. "You have a fine home and your parents are wonderful."

"I'm glad."

"I second that," Dil said. "Maybe sometime when you can, I could come over to your house for dinner."

"Yes. That would be nice. Maybe someday."

Tommy then spoke up again. "So, Luana, how are you going to get home?"

"Dylan said that Mr. Pickles will take me back home. We only live ten minutes away."

"Oh, okay. That's nice of Dad."

Stu came in the room. "Dil? Luana? You ready?"

"Yeah. We're ready, Dad," Dil got up from the couch.

"You wanna come, T?" he offered to Tommy.

"No, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

"I'll see you at school, Monday, Thomas!" Luana friendlily said farewell, as she headed toward the front door.

"Thanks again for the dinner, Mrs. Pickles!" she then yelled toward the direction of the kitchen.

"You're welcome, sweetie. Come back again soon."

"Okay. I will."

Stu then directed the two kids out and Tommy headed upstairs to ready himself for bed, relieved that the dinner went off without any serious problems.


	8. Chapter 8

* _Another chapter for ya'll! __Thanks for all the reviews so far! For those of you asking about Luana and her liberal use of the other kids' full given names, I have it be a part of her eccentric character. Due to the kids all knowing the very eccentric Dil from babyhood, the other kids are so used to the eccentricities, they don't even question them. Hope that answers some of your questions. A/N over. On with the story!*_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Eight

Tommy and Dil both climbed out of the school bus and walked slowly toward Jim Jr. Middle. It was Monday, a dreary one at that.

"Look's like it's gonna rain today, eh T?"

"Yeah," Tommy glanced worriedly at the increasingly dark and threatening sky. "I hope its not a severe storm or anything. To be stuck at school with-"

"It won't come to that," Dil shook his head.

"Always looking on the positive side of things, eh bro?"

"It's my thing," Dil only shrugged. "Come on. We don't want to be late for homeroom."

Tommy could still remember Stedwell's sinister presence.

"Heck no!"

"Hey, Tommy! Dil!" Phil and Lil came over to them.

"I really hope this test isn't so hard, you know?" Lil was fussing, as the four made their way toward the history wing.

"Aw, man! We have a test?" Phil cried.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Uh- no?"

"Way to go, Phillip! Not only did you manage to get detention with the jerk, now you're going to bomb his test?"

"That's way outta the park, Lillian! _He's _the one to blame-"

"Guys! Cut it out!" Tommy cried.

The twins immediately quieted.

"Now are we going to class in a calm and rational manner?"

"I suppose," sighed Lil. "Unless Phil decides to screw everything up again-"

"LIL!" Tommy groaned, exasperated.

"Okay. Geez, Tommy, what side of the bed did you get up from today?"

Tommy sighed, as he glanced toward Dil's direction. Dil was chatting with Luana, as they were walking toward them.

"Guys, come on! You can't be late now!"

"We're coming, Tommy!" Dil cried. "Calm down, will you?"

I would, if I didn't have to take Stedwell's stupid test, Tommy thought, as he headed in the classroom with the twins in tow.

Stedwell was standing in front of the room, as menacing as ever, passing test papers to each student that passed him to take their seats.

It was Tommy's turn to receive his test paper.

"Uh- we're not doing any homeroom stuff today?" he wondered.

Stedwell only had a glare in response.

"I have not the time for homeroom trivialities, Pickles. Once you are finished with your test, you may hand in anything related to homeroom. For now, sit down and get started. Not a word or I will take your paper, tear it up and you will get a _zero._"

"Yes, sir." Tommy was dejected.

Phil and Lil got their test papers right after him. Phil only swiped the test paper from Stedwell, and glared at him for an extended amount of time.

Stedwell did not have the patience for Phil's current behavior.

"Get started, DeVille," he hissed in a dangerous tone.

Soon enough, the students were all anxiously busy at work. Dil luckily, was among the first that finished their test. Luana finished right after him.

"Mr. Stedwell? If I may offer a suggestion?" Luana piped up as Dil returned back to his seat.

Oh Luana, you walked _right _into that one. Tommy quietly slapped his palm on his forehead.

"I would try to make my test papers more appealing, and less stale and intimidating. Middle school students are more receptive to the more colorful and favorable."

"Sit down, Miss Lorner," Stedwell's tone grew more dangerous.

Luana responded with a small shrug and smile and returned to her seat. Both Tommy and Dil admired her nerve and spirit just now.

Tommy watched Phil, as he shakingly tried to answer the questions on the test. Maybe he shouldn't have played video games, when he was supposed to be studying with Lil.

The door opened and an eighth grader slipped in.

"Mr. Stedwell? You're needed in the office."

Stedwell made an annoyed noise and followed the student out.

"_No mischief!" _he snarled as he left the room.

Phil then got up. "Well, I think I bombed."

"Phil! Be quiet!" Lil hissed.

"So? He ain't here and mostly everybody's done."

He then went over and laid his test paper on top of the stack of other tests. "Someone should check up on that dude. Just saying."

"Well, you have detention with him this week," Luana chimed in. "You could find out a plethora of information about him, after school hours."

"Good point, Luana," Phil shrugged, as he returned to his seat. "I'll note that to myself. I gotta have _something _to do during my unfairly received week of detention."

* * *

Chuckie and Kimi met near the cafeteria, drained from their day so far. Kimi, in particular, was exhausted from her fourth period with Stedwell.

"You okay, Kimi?" Chuckie inquired his sister.

Kimi groaned. "I had to take Stedwell's lame test today. My day wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't have to have detention with him for _two weeks!"_

Chuckie shrugged. "I'm sorry, Kimi. It's good that you're standing up for the good of the school and the other kids, but he's in a position of authority and there's nothing we can do."

"What? You're turning into Mom and Dad, or what?"

"I'm serious, Kimi."

"If you would spend _one _class period with that imbecile, you would understand what I am saying, Chuckie. Students _quiver _at the mere thought of spending a class period with him."

"They said that about Pangborn."

"_Chuckie!"_

"Well, it's true!"

"This is _not _PE! This is _history, _okay? The fact that they hired some strange and sadistic British-type wacko to teach it to us, a bunch of innocent twelve-year-olds, is beyond me!"

"Okay, I agree with you on that point."

"Then start acting like you're on my side, for Pete's sake!"

"Hey, you two all right?" Tommy and the twins came over toward them.

"Yeah, just dandy, thanks!" Kimi replied, in a snappish tone.

"O-kay, let's go on to lunch, shall we?"

"So, you guys- I found out some interesting info about our favourite history teacher," Phil started, as the kids plus Dil and Luana sat down at their usual table in the patio.

"Already?" Tommy said.

"Just when everyone was getting ready for lunch period, I saw him leave the school and make his way toward the parking lot."

Kimi stared at him. "So?"

"He was yapping to this mysterious Slavic-like dude, in an angry tone."

"Slavic-like dude? In the parking lot?" Dil raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. They were like arguing or something. Anyway, they got into this black car and left the school."

"That is weird."

"He's probably some kind of spy," Tommy said.

"A spy?" Lil squeaked. "Wonderful. Our history teacher's an evil spy!"

"We do not know everything yet, so we can not jump into conclusions," Luana held out a hand. "Phillip, what else did you see? What did the "Slavic-like dude" look like?"

"He was wearing some kind of cloak and spoke in this weird accent, so I didn't know what he was talking about. Stedwell seemed to understand, though," Phil answered, shrugging.

There was an interested twitter from the other kids at their table.

"Yep, he's an evil spy, sent to take over the school system!" Lil cried.

"Lil, chill out. We don't know yet!" Phil tried to placate his twin.

"But we will, with a little spying of our own," Tommy formed an idea.

"Oh, no. _Why?" _Chuckie wailed. "We'll get in trouble!"

"No, we won't," Phil said. "'Cuz we ain't gonna get caught."

Chuckie only moaned in response.

"So here's the plan," Tommy started. "Phil and Kimi have detention, so what they'll do is watch Stedwell, intensely, to find out anything suspicious."

"Okay," Kimi nodded.

"The rest of us will also take note."

"Oh, no!" Chuckie cried out. "I am _not _going to get involved in this. If any one knows of this and my involvement in this, I'll get kicked out of the acceleration program and my permanent record will get _soiled!"_

"Suit yourself, Chuck," Phil said. "You'll miss out on some serious spying though."

"I'll live."

"So, it's settled."

"Affirmative, Thomas," Luana replied. The others nodded in agreement.

* * *

"It's ridiculous really," Chuckie was saying to Harmonie, as the bus took them toward Wydom High. "They're really freaking out over this Stedwell guy."

Harmonie nodded in agreement. "I can see why they are. I've heard that he is just awful to his students."

"Kimi got herself in enough trouble last week. I- just hope they don't go too far into this, you know?"

"I know, Chuckie. You're concerned. You're right to be concerned."

Chuckie smiled, and relaxed himself for the first time today. "You're right, Harmonie. Thanks."

"I'm always happy to help a friend."

They finally arrive at the high school.

"Well, here goes another lovely week at the high school," Chuckie sighed, heavily.

* * *

"This is fool proof, Carmichael!" Angelica was saying to Susie, as the two headed for their history class. "We will _pretend _to befriend Merrington, get him to confide and trust us as we find out the dirt, and when the time is right- BAM! Bye, bye Merrington."

"Angelica, there is no way I am going to get involved in your little plan. It's cruel and vindictive."

"You can be all "goody-goody" all you want, Carmichael, and don't help me. I can do this on my own, 'kay?"

"It's your funeral," Susie shrugged as she headed toward the classroom and toward her seat. Angelica followed behind. Once she spotted Dalton at the front of the room, she headed toward the seat next to him.

He glanced toward her direction, in an interested and inquisitive way.

"Hmm, very interesting, Pickles. Are you sitting next to me, on the front row of the class, to grovel?"

"Stuff it, Merrington. I came to offer a truce of sorts?"

Dalton raised an eyebrow. "A truce?"

"Yeah, did I stutter? A truce. A token of friendship, you know? I noticed you were particularly nasty to Finster and Gillett as they arrived at the school earlier."

"Gillett gets on my nerves. Bloody girl thinks she knows everything. The boy is hopeless."

"My sentiments, exactly! I've known Finster since I was a toddler. Unfortunately, he's popped up several times in my life, most often unwanted."

"Tsk, tsk. I am so sorry. Degrading, isn't it?"

"You said it. You know any losers like that in your past life?"

"I've known every type of loser you could ever come up with. I can sense one from a mile away."

"Impressive."

He smirked. "I've had years of experience."

Angelica smirked back. "You're not half bad, Merrington. We can do damage, you and me. Just one thing?"

"What's that?"

"Stop trying to trump me in class, with all the "knowing all the answers" crap. It's making me look bad."

"Don't know about that, Pickles, but we'll see."

"Good enough."

Angelica then smiled to herself, as the teacher arrived in the room to start class. This is going to be a breeze, she thought. My plan is working. Excellent.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The rain came down like it was no ones business. Tommy, worn out from his long day, slugged over to his locker to collect his needed items.

Phil came toward him.

"Hey, Tommy," he said. "I'm ready for prison."

Tommy chuckled. "Try not to annoy Stedwell too much today, okay?"

Phil shrugged. "I'll try, even though it's so hard sometimes."

"Yeah, well, I can't say the same for Kimi."

Phil rolled his eyes. "I see what you mean. She's been griping about this for the past few days."

"I know what you mean. Chuckie actually told me the other day that she's been so unbearable that he'd rather spend the day getting ridiculed by Angelica and Dalton Merrington."

"Dalton Merrington?"

"It's this new kid that Angelica's been obsessing herself with. Susie says that its just as crazy as her thing with Savannah Shannon."

Phil nodded. "I remember. Doesn't Merrington sound familiar to you or what?"

"Yeah, but that's because his family is one of the last remaining "old money" families in New England."

"What are they doing in California?"

Tommy shrugged. "Dunno. Susie could only tell me what she knows and she doesn't know a lot about him."

"Strange. Maybe they're in co-hoots with Stedwell and the Slavic guy. They seem to be the elitist, prejudiced types."

"I agree, sort of. We don't have the proof-"

"Yet, Stedwell is the classic case of the pompous, bigoted jerk from hell!"

Tommy only sighed, heavily.

Kimi came up to them.

"Come on Phil," she said. "We don't wanna be late for _detention."_

"Whatever," Phil rolled his eyes and groaned. "Like it would make any type of _difference. _The jerk hates us anyway."

"You seen Lil?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, she's by the bus area with Dil and Luana. You better hurry, Tommy. The rain's coming down pretty hard, the bus will not be here long, and you _do not _want to be stranded at school."

"Oh, no. I'd better get going. Good luck, Phil and Kimi."

"Yeah, sure."

"We know what to do, Tommy!" Phil added. "We just gotta spy on Stedwell!"

Kimi groaned.

"Be on your toes, okay?" Tommy added, as he walked downstairs and toward the rainy and wet bus area.

Phil and Kimi exchanged glances.

"So what now?" Kimi muttered, glumly.

"We go, I guess."

"Finster! DeVille! You had better be heading to my classroom for detention!" they heard Stedwell's voice bellow from the other side of the hallway.

"If I could, I would bash him in the face!" Kimi hissed.

Phil chortled at this.

The pair then walked in Stedwell's now almost empty classroom. There were only two other kids in there with them. Maybe they had detention as well?

"I hope he doesn't beat us or something," Phil said. "He does seem the evil British boarding school type teacher."

"Way to be on the bright side of things, Phil," Kimi glared at him.

"What?"

Stedwell strutted in the classroom.

"Sit down," he hissed at Kimi and Phil.

They obey, with overt grumbles.

"Here are the rules," he directed at the four victims of after-school detention. "Number one, you are not allowed to talk amongst yourselves. Number two, if you _need _to do any personal _necessities_, you will ask for my permission _first. _And, lastly, number three, you will do whatever I say, whenever I say. Understand?"

Phil raised his hand.

"What if we have to go to the bathroom?"

Kimi slapped her palm on her forehead and shook her head, embarrassed.

Stedwell only stared at him, menacingly.

"Hmm, the boy is even more thick and hopeless, than he makes himself out to be," he muttered behind his breath.

Phil didn't hear him, but could tell he was irritated. "Well, don't worry about that. I already went before we came here."

"How long do we have to spend here?" a nervous-looking brunet boy that reminded both Kimi and Phil of Chuckie piped up. They could both tell that he was in the throes of voice changing. "I- I told my Grandma to pick me up at five."

"You will be here, until _five o'clock PM,_ Lanson. Any other _pointless _questions?"

"No, s-sir."

"Don't speak, boy!"

The boy slinked down in his seat.

The fourth detention participant, a semi-Gothic Latina of about thirteen was popping gum in the back, with her feet up on the desk. She could be a female, Gothic Latina version of Phil.

"And _what _is the meaning of _this_ behavior, Miss Sanchez?"

"Piss off!" she hissed.

Score one for Sanchez.

"You have caused _quite _enough trouble in my class, in the past week. My patience is wearing thin."

"It wasn't before?"

Score two.

Stedwell only glared at her, and his eyes narrowed. "You are on _very _thin ice."

"Whatever you say, Señor Imbécil."

Stedwell then led the four toward the offices of the history wing.

"The four of you will be paired off. DeVille and Sanchez will clean the lounge and offices and Finster and Lanson will tidy up the classroom. Any questions-"

Phil slowly raised his hand.

"-that are _not _stupid?"

He lowered the hand.

"Good. Get to work."

He stalked away, and the quartet got themselves to work at their respective posts.

Phil was lazily throwing any trash away, while the Sanchez girl was wiping off tables and chairs in the adjourning lounge. He strolled toward her.

"Hey, I know we're not supposed to talk and all that junk, but what's your name?"

Sanchez turned and smiled at him.

"Me llamo Marisol Isabella de Cruz Sanchez, but most people call me Mari," she extended a hand.

Phil took it and shook it. "Nice to meet you Mari. I'm Phil-"

"Phil DeVille, right? Troublemaker of the seventh grade student body?"

"The one."

"Heh, you got guts. How'd you get detention with _el chiflado?"_

_ "El chiflado?"_

_ "_Nutcase."

"Oh. Well, he was in a mean spirited mood. I was trying to bring light to the moment, you know get all excited for the weekend and all- and BAM! He gives me a week of detention."

"That's weak. I got a week for _cheek, _you know, backtalk."

"I hear ya."

"I reckon he's from the stuffy part of England."

"I reckon that too."

Phil then started to search around for anything that belonged to Stedwell.

"You looking for Stedwell's office?" Mari inquired.

"Yeah. I'm doing a bit of spying."

"Spying. Cool. I can help."

"We might get in trouble, if both of us decide to shirk our work."

"Who gives a damn?"

Phil laughed. "Yeah, not me."

They finally find a door with only the plaque "S. Stedwell" on it.

"'S. Stedwell'? What does the "S" mean?"

"Beats me," Mari shrugged. "He probably has an embarrassing given name."

"Yeah. It's probably "Steven" or "Sebastian" or "Seth" or even "Sean!"

"Or "Simón" or "Saúl," added Mari.

"So many possibilities."

"Let's go in."

"In? You mean go in Stedwell's personal, janitor closet sized office?"

"Sí, Phil. Come on!"

"Alright. It ain't like it'll kill us or anything."

Mari tried the door.

"Drat, it's locked."

"No duh! You got an idea?"

"Bobby pin."

"Excellante. Do it, chica."

"Doing it!"

Mari managed to unlock the door.

"Come on," she directed at Phil.

They walked slowly into Stedwell's office, which was not at all what Phil expected. Books were stacked neatly in the bookshelves and papers were all filed in the filing cabinet. Even his desk was perfectly neat.

"Apparently he's a neat freak," Mari spoke up.

"They're always the psycho ones. So I've heard."

Phil slapped his hands and rubbed them together. "So, let's try to find something suspicious, shall we?"

"Sí, we shall."

The two searched carefully around the small, cramped office for anything out of the ordinary. Phil, in particular, searched around his desk.

"The first bit of information that I could tell you is that Stedwell has no picture of any wife and kids. Not even one of the pet dog."

"Hmm-" Mari mused. "He must be too much of an anti-social loser to ever get a girl, let alone get married."

"True dat."

Phil then shakily pulled open a drawer in Stedwell's desk.

A gasp.

"What? _Qué pasa, _Phil?"

"Check _this _out, Mari!"

Mari rushed over, as Phil picked up a notepad from the drawer. They read some notes made in neat, angular handwriting.

_Notes to self_

_Undesirables_

_T. and D. Pickles_

_P. and L. Deville_

_Finster_

_Sanchez_

_Lorner_

_Lanson_

_..._

Another page…

_ Lunch with Merringtons on 31 August to discuss_

_ - Dalton's education plan_

_ -Lukas' new position in CA bureaucracy_

_ - the Vladimir situation_

_ - The reforming of the "People's Nationalism Alliance"_

_ - and other trivialities they want to bring up_

Phil and Mari exchanged nervous looks.

"So, he knows the Merringtons? I oughta tell Susie and Angelica."

Mari nodded.

"A-and the dude he was talking to at lunch period today might have been this "Vladimir."

But it was the penultimate thing on the list that got them.

"The People's Nationalism Alliance? What the heck does that mean?" Mari cried.

"I dunno. Something bad, I'm sure."

"We- should probably get back to cleaning."

"Yeah, we should."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"So, let me get this straight, you're telling us that Stedwell is some type of bigoted Nazi type dude?" Dil reacted to Phil's explanation. They, along with Susie, Tommy, Lil, Kimi, Dil and Luana were sitting at their usual table at the Java Lava, on a nicer, late Tuesday afternoon.

"Why do you think I waited 'till after school to tell you all this?" Phil cried.

"Well, sor-rie!"

"How would you know that he really is a Nazi type dude anyways?" Lil said. "Maybe-"

"Nazi stood for the German's Workers Nationalist Party in German," Luana stated. "Even after World War II, there are still groups of people, possibly cults or "organizations" still determined to have a small group of people usually the rich, Anglo-Saxon elite be superior to everyone else."

"That's why Stedwell refuses to devote more than a month of time for Africa!" Kimi chimed in.

"Kim, give it up!" Phil groaned.

"How are we supposed to know that for sure?" Susie demanded. "Just because there is a "Nationalist" in the name?"

"Well, yeah!"

"He's a cruel, sadistic bully!" Kimi added. "It makes perfect sense."

"Maybe he's just a bad teacher. Come on, you guys. You should just take a chill pill and do your work. You're going to have a few strict and stern teachers who are not gonna take junk from no one. Just chill out and do the work, 'kay?" Susie assured.

"Are you insane?" Lil spluttered. "Did you not listen to anything Phil has told you? The dude is wacko! He is a nazi in the classroom, okay? He bullies _everyone _for _absolutely _no reason!"

"I'd better jet, guys," Susie sighed, heavily. "I'd promised Alisa that I'd babysit for her today."

"But-"

"See you guys. Chill, all right?"

Susie was gone, and Phil and Kimi threw up their hands in despair.

"She didn't believe us!" Kimi cried. "Now what are we gonna do?"

"Nothing, I guess," Tommy shrugged.

"What do you mean "nothing?" Phil demanded. "Don't you wanna get Stedwell fired?"

"Well, more than anybody, but-"

"But _what, _Tommy?"

"Well, Susie didn't even believe us," Tommy shook his head. "Which sucks, since we need an older kid on our side, you know?"

"Everything all right here, kiddos?" Betty came over to them.

"We're all right, Ma," Phil replied.

"Betty, what would you do if you had a bad teacher that could be an evil criminal?" Kimi piped up.

"Kimi, why?" groaned Phil.

"This about that Stedwell guy?" Betty wanted to know.

"Well, yeah-"

"Okay, next topic!" Lil cried out. "We are done talking about him, okay?"

Kimi and Phil hung their heads.

"Have any of you seen Chuckie?" Betty then asked the kids. "Chazzie's wanting to know if he'll be home for dinner."

"Chuckie's with his new friend, Harmonie I think, at the library, studying it up," Phil shook his head. "You would think Chuckie would have met her years ago. Her mom's bringing Chuckie back in time for dinner."

"Oh, all right. Thanks, kiddos."

"No problem."

Betty then headed back for the counter.

"Well, we should at least take some action against the evil history teacher from hell," grumbled Kimi.

* * *

"We gonna do some serious spying or what?" Phil echoed through the media center, closed to students for the day, but Stedwell's four detention victims were there to clean and tidy it up for the day. Kimi had kept complaining about the tedious chores he was practically giving them and that he was treating them like dirt beneath his feet.

Today was Wednesday, day three of detention torture.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your hat on," Mari waved her hand at him. "First we have to wait for him to leave."

Phil saw Stedwell, still not budging from the library circulation desk he decided to use to oversee the four.

"When is _that _going to be? He'll be there forever!"

"Calm down, Phil. Let's just play along his little cleaning game, and when he has to leave the room- and he will leave the room- we'll commence our spying, okay?"

"Sanchez! DeVille! Are the two of you this daft that you would talk amongst yourselves, when you are _clearly _forbidden to do so?" Stedwell unfortunately heard their conversation.

Mari responded, with an obscene hand gesture.

"Get to work!"

The two obeyed, reluctantly.

"What now?" hissed Mari.

"Chill, I gotta plan."

Phil then turned toward the entrance of the media center, which was adjacent to the cafeteria.

"Hey, is that a rule-breaking rebel I see out there?" Phil then cried out. "Uh oh. He's getting away!"

"Bloody hell!" Stedwell exclaimed, as he rushed out the media center.

"Now, Nick! Get the briefcase! On the circulation desk!" Kimi cried.

The nervous boy, Nick Lanson, rushed toward the desk, and grabbed the briefcase. He then laid it down on the floor and the four kids huddled around said briefcase.

Phil read the engraving. "There's that S. Stedwell, again."

"Hurry up and open the stupid thing!" Kimi cried. "We don't have all day!"

"All right, all right. Geez."

He then attempted to open the briefcase, but to no avail.

"Drat! There's a dang combination."

"What? You don't know how to crack it, genius?" Kimi sniped.

"I don't see you trying to help me!"

"Uh- guys?" Mari uttered.

"What, Mari?"

"We gotta problem."

"What do you mean "problem?" Phil threw the briefcase on the ground in frustration.

"PHILLIP DEVILLE!"

Stedwell, in obvious fury, stood near the entrance of the media center, ready to pounce.

"Heh, heh," Phil smiled, innocently. "How'd _this _get here? Man, you can not believe some things, you know?"

"Hand it over, boy!"

"Huh?"

"Are you stupid? Hand…over…my…briefcase!"

Phil slowly got up from the floor and toward Stedwell. He, in turn, swiped the briefcase from him.

"Get…out!" he snarled.

"It's only four fifteen," Kimi said.

"I said…get…OUT!"

"Yes, sir!" Nick chirped. He, along with the three others, rushed out the media center and toward the exit of school- AKA their torture chamber.

* * *

Friday this week was meant to worsen the kids' fortunes. It started in first period, when they received their tests back.

"The test scores were mainly adequate, but…still not good enough," Stedwell was lecturing the class. "I would advise that _some _of you find a _different _method of study, hmm?"

Phil glared at him. What a pompous, self-rightous-

"DeVille!" he hissed as he slapped Phil's test paper on his desk.

"D MINUS?" Phil spluttered. "Aw man!"

"That's what you get for not studying," Lil chirped from the front row, in sing-song.

"Shut up, Lillian!"

Luana received hers.

"Wicked! I got an A!"

"What did you get, Dylan?" she asked of Dil, when he got his test back.

"A minus."

"Wicked awesome. Join the A club!" the two eccentrics slap palms.

"Lillian?" she then asked Lil. "What did you get on your test?"

Lil groaned. "I got a stinking B plus! A B, on a stupid, easy Geography test, for crying out loud."

"Dang! So, I guess you can't join the A club, huh?" Dil said.

"Nope. Sorry, Dil."

"We'll live."

Tommy's test grade was a mere B minus, okay in his standards. At least Dil and Luana seem happy with their grades. Phil and Lil on the other hand…

"Hey, wait a minute," Tommy noticed an overt error on Stedwell's part on question four. "I got that one right!"

He then asked Dil, "Hey, bro. What did you get for number four?"

He answered the exact right answer, which was counted correct on Dil's test paper, but not on Tommy's.

The bell rang for the kids to go to second period, and Tommy took the opportunity to fix this glaring mistake on his test.

"Uh- Mr. Stedwell?" he uttered. Dil decided to stay, to help his brother.

"Shouldn't you be heading off to your second period class, Pickles?" Stedwell was clearly annoyed. "And you as well, Dylan Pickles?"

"I need to address a mistake you made in grading my test."

Stedwell raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you saying, Pickles?"

"Here. See for yourself."

Both Pickles boys handed in their tests to Stedwell.

"See? You took off points off the fourth question, but yet gave Dil credit for the same answer."

"Oh. Pity."

He went in and fixed the mistake. He then thrust Tommy's test paper back to him.

"Changed from an eighty-five to an eighty-nine. Go on."

"What? No apology?"

Tommy instantly regretted the words that came out of his mouth.

"I fixed the bloody mistake. Go…to…class…now…Pickles. Both of you!"

"You're not gonna write a pass?"

"Out! Get…out!"

The boys then ran out, just as the warning bell rang.

Tommy felt anger inside. _He _was the one who made the mistake, and yet he blames it on the students. It was then and now that Tommy agreed with everything that Phil and Kimi said about S. Stedwell.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The weeks passed by relatively quickly, and the first quarter of seventh grade was getting closer and closer to the end. Tommy, in particular, was worried about his quarter grades, especially in Stedwell's class. As the months were to pass by, Stedwell seemed to despise him and his friends more and more. Tommy and Lil, along with Nick Lanson were worried, Phil and new friend Mari unconcerned, Dil and Luana were intent on enjoying the moment and "stopping to smell the flowers." They were pushing As in every class, so Tommy understood their attitudes. Kimi, in contrast, was intent in getting Stedwell discharged from school, either at semester's end or year's end. She was also intent on getting herself and her classmates to learn as much of the real and true facts about Africa as possible, which greatly worried her friends, and angered Stedwell even more.

Meanwhile, at the high school, Chuckie was associating himself more and more with Harmonie, particularly during their difficult afternoons at Wydom. He had already been over to her house for dinner and she had been to the Java Lava several times, during Chuckie's shift. Should he acknowledge that their friendship could become something more? Not yet, he would tell himself. He was too busy worrying about Kimi, since her activist anti-Stedwell movement was in full swing as of last month. Harmonie could keep assuring him that Kimi will come to her senses at some point and calm down. Chuckie really hoped she was right.

Angelica's "truce" with Dalton Merrington was working perfectly in terms of her plans. Even though (to Angelica's annoyance) she hadn't been to Dalton's house even once for dinner, they were becoming "fast friends" at school. The two were even lab partners in Biology class and they sat together at lunch with several other mutual friends, drifting herself further apart from Susie and Harold, who were in turn hanging out more with Chuckie and Harmonie. She would roll her eyes every time Dalton would mention this matter and ask her if she resented Susie and Harold for associating themselves with losers. Besides, she was content enough with Dalton and the popular kids (the cheerleaders, football and soccer players). She could care less about the "Freaky Four" anyways.

* * *

This year, September sixteenth was to be Yom Yippur, one of Dil's favorite holidays (he loved any holiday that was not observed by the majority), but not so much Tommy's. He would have to spend almost an entire Monday at the synagogue where their maternal grandparents Boris and Minka attended, which was ten minutes away from town. The good news was that he would get to miss school for that day, which meant one day away from Stedwell.

Tommy voiced his displeasure to his friends the Saturday before Yom Yippur at the Java Lava. Harold and Harmonie were sitting at the table nearest the counter, where Chuckie and Kimi were working.

"You have to look on the bright side of this, Thomas," Luana assured him. "You won't have to put up with Stedwell's nonsense for a day."

"What's the point?" Tommy sighed. "Mom's acting all crazy insisting that we go to this stupid service."

"It's a part of our culture, T," Dil said. "Yeah, Mom's nuts, but she's right in a way."

"Yeah, yeah. Just like she was right about Hebrew School-" Tommy groaned, suddenly remembering his time at the school and meeting Rachel…

"Face it, Tommy. Deal with it," Lil said. "Since your bar mitzvah is next year-"

"Next topic!" Phil cried. "This crud is boring. Let's talk about Stedwell and the spying?"

His sister rolled her eyes at him. "No. Let's not, okay?"

"Guys, guys!" Tommy tried to calm the twins.

"Yom Kippur?" Harmonie had heard their conversation.

"Yeah, I have to miss school for it Monday," Tommy explained.

"Ah, so you're Jewish, Tommy?"

"Yep- well Dil and my mom is anyway- so we're half-Jewish."

"That's great! I actually have to miss school for that same reason. My mum is Jewish too."

"Wow! Small world, eh?" Dil exclaimed.

Harmonie then walked over to Chuckie. "How come you never told me that Tommy and Dil were Jewish?"

"You never asked."

Harmonie only shook her head at him.

"He's hopeless, Harmonie," Kimi chimed in from the back room. "Completely and utterly hopeless."

"Thanks a lot, sis!" Chuckie groaned.

"Always happy to help, bro!"

The friends all laugh at this.

Susie then came in Java Lava. Harold and Harmonie waved her over.

"Hey," she smiled at the two.

"Have any of you seen Angelica?" she asked of them and also of the seventh grade group.

"Nope."

"I think she's at some popular kid's house," Harold answered.

"Dalton's?"

"Uh…she didn't say."

"Huh," Susie mused. "Maybe she'll call at some point. We're supposed to be working on a history project together."

"Oh yeah- the history project," Harold said. "She's gonna be working with Dalton instead."

"WHAT?"

"Awk-weird," Phil muttered.

"She told you, but not ME?" Susie spluttered. "I-I don't understand! When did she tell you?"

"The other day, remember? We were walking out of history, and she mentioned to Dalton that she wanted to work with him on the project-"

"So, she never actually told you?"

"Uh…no."

Susie huffed out a sigh. "Well, then. I don't need her anyway! Isn't there anyone who is willing to work with me?"

Harold shyly stared at the ground. "I still don't have a partner. Um-"

"I'd love to be your partner, Harold."

"Whew! Awesome! I was going to ask Angelica, but seeing as the other day and-"

"Angelica only wants to work with the popular crowd. We'll show them by getting the higher grade!"

"YEAH!" they slap palms.

The seventh graders watch this scene with obvious interest.

"Well…Tommy! I guess your cousin has better things to do with her time, eh?" Phil said, leaning back in his seat.

"I'm not concerned. Angelica was the same way with Savannah, last year, brown-nosing and hanging around her all the time," Tommy shrugged. "This will pass."

"Not according to Susie it ain't."

* * *

Tommy managed to survive the Yom Kippur services. Luana insisted on accompanying the Pickles to temple. As it turns out, Luana also had some Jewish ancestry, however she and her parents were "semi-practicing Buddhists." Yet, Didi relented and the Lorners came to temple with the Pickles. Tommy's first impression of Luana's parents were that of adult versions of Dil and Luana. Tommy instantly forgot their names, so he settled to address them as Mr. and Mrs. Lorner. The father had longer white-blond hair and wore a cloak that reminded Tommy of the coat from _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. _Luana's mother was a thin, yet cheerful woman with her blond hair with purple streaks, and like her daughter, she wore a hemp dress. Both mother and daughter wore calm beige colored dresses. Boris, Minka, and the other participants all mused at the eccentric family accompanying the Pickles to temple. It surely was the bright spot of Yom Kippur.

With that in mind, Tommy, along with Dil and Luana, returned to school with a brighter state in mind.

Sadly, the mood was not to remain happy.

The trio arrived a little early for history, with absent passes in hand.

Stedwell, of course, was in an irritable mood.

"Well, well, well. It looks as the Pickles and Miss Lorner decided to return to school, after their _absence."_

The three exchanged looks.

"We were observing Yom Yippur, sir," Tommy answered, coolly.

Phil and Lil watched their friends with overt concern.

"Yom Yippur?"

"It's a Jewish holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement. It's commonly the most celebrated holiday-" Dil started. Luana then handed their passes to Stedwell, who then swiped them from her.

Stedwell's eyes narrowed. "I _know _what Yom Kippur means, Pickles. Now, explain why you, your brother and Lorner decided to _skip _classes to observe a holiday that is only significant at sundown?"

Tommy was furious now. "We just _told _you!" he blurted out.

The classroom was now deathly silent.

"Apparently, Stedwell doesn't listen to anyone younger than his old age," Phil muttered discreetly to his neighbour.

"We obtained permission from all of our parents," Luana calmly explained. "Plus, we were observing a religious holiday, also an educational opportunity. So therefore, this is an excused absence."

"She does have a point," Phil said.

Stedwell glared at him. "Hush up, DeVille."

He turned back toward the three. "Very well, your absences are excused. Obtain whatever notes and homework from your classmates and sit down. You are wasting your classmates' and my time."

Dil and Luana obeyed, but Tommy didn't budge.

"Didn't you hear me, Pickles? Sit down!"

Still displeased, Tommy only looked at Stedwell and uttered, "No."

"Ooh," the class uttered.

"Silence," Stedwell ordered. He then glared at Tommy.

"I…will…give…you…one…more...chance. Sit…down…now…Pickles."

Tommy still didn't budge.

"All right then. You leave me no choice. Detention. Two weeks."

"Fine," Tommy only muttered, still not moving.

"_Sit down…NOW!"_

"Heck no, he won't go! Heck no, he won't go!" Phil chanted. Soon enough, the class were all chanting with him.

"SILENCE!"

The chanting immediately stopped.

"DeVille! Pickles! Get the hell out of my classroom, if you are going to_ disrupt!"_

The two immediately walked out.

"I will notify the principal that you two are on your way."

Nail in the coffin.

"The principal's office?" Phil cried, as the two made their way to the main office. "Man, are we in trouble!"

"I could care less," Tommy only replied. "Didn't you see the way he treated us? All over Yom Kippur!"

"I guess he really is a nazi."

"Phil!"

"Well, it could be true."

"Forget it. He would be like that if Susie were to miss school to observe an African-American holiday or if Kimi were to observe a Japanese holiday. Stedwell is more of a xenophobe."

"Xeno- what?"

"It means he hates people from foreign countries, or at least from places not where he's from."

"He's also prejudiced and you know that guy Angelica's been hanging out with? Dalton Merrington?"

"Yeah?"

"He's Stedwell's godson."

"No way! I guess it means Stedwell came from Massachusetts, but was born in England."

"Could be."

They arrive at the main office, expecting Pangborn to meet them. However, a stern-looking elderly woman with her graying black hair in a bun was waiting for them.

"McKinney?"

"That's _Principal _McKinney to you, DeVille. Come."

The two flabbergasted boys followed her into her office.

"Thomas Pickles and Phillip DeVille, it seems you were sent here due to insubordination and disrupting of the class, no?"

"Yep," Phil chirped, happily. He seemed pleased with himself.

"Such behavior will not be tolerated. This is an educational institution and I assure you that this behavior is _not _taken lightly. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boys chirp.

"You will sit quietly in the main office until the second period bell rings. Not a word from either of you. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You are dismissed."

The boys nodded and went out to wait for the bell to ring for second period.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

It was another crazy, chaotic day at Wydom High (well to Susie anyway). It was now the beginning of lunch period, which meant that Chuckie, Harmonie and the eighth graders had not yet arrived for afternoon classes. Susie was preoccupied looking for Angelica. She needed an explanation concerning their history project, and she needed it now.

She sees Angelica at the popular table with Dalton and a bunch of older kids.

"Angelica!" she called out.

She was too busy chatting to notice her friend.

Susie sighed, heavily, and walked right up to the popular table.

"Angelica, we need to talk."

"Uh- Carmichael, we don't allow _honor roll goody two shoes, _here," Dalton sneered at her.

"Screw off, Merrington. Angelica?"

Angelica finally looked up. "What is it, Carmichael? I'm kinda busy here."

"I demand to know why you decided to work with someone else on the history project, without having the decency to tell me! I also want to know why you never returned any of my calls, why you won't-"

"I…was…busy…Carmichael. Geez, and you call yourself an A student."

Dalton and the popular kids chortled.

"You are sick, Angelica! I don't know what your dang problem is, but I am through with you!"

"Huh?"

"Did you not hear me, Angelica? I am sick and tired of always looking out for you, whenever it was middle school with Savannah or elementary school with Samantha, and now here you go, chasing after the popular crowd, like they are going to hand you your life on a silver platter! Newsflash, they are not your true friends. They won't help you make sure you have done your schoolwork. They won't help you make sure you won't spend an entire summer in summer school. They won't help you after you would get disappointed every time any foolish boy rejects you. Harold and I have been by your side ever since preschool, and you repay us with this! I am done helping you!" Susie had to catch her breath, after her long winded speech.

Angelica only replied, "Okay. Bye, Carmichael."

"That's it? That's all you will respond with after what I have said to you?"

"You better go now, Carmichael," Dalton then said. "You're making our table look bad."

Susie angrily stalked away. "Go stuff yourself, Merrington!"

Harold came up to her.

"Hey, Suz? You okay?"

Susie sighed, as she tried not to cry. "No, I'm not okay. I-I don't think I'll be okay for a very long time."

"Angelica, right?"

"We've lost her, Harold. It's apparent that she's found her own friends, and we just have to accept it. It is what it is."

Harold nodded.

"It's gonna be all right, Suz. Angelica will come to her senses."

"I don't know, Harold. I just don't know."

* * *

It was soon toward the beginning of October, and Tommy was still serving detention (he and Phil obtained a month's worth after their behavior the other day). On the one hand, the two were eagerly counting down till October fourteenth, which was when their detention would be up, but on the other hand, they were particularly excited to commence their spying activities and to find out more information surrounding their mysterious cruel history teacher.

"It's crazy," Phil was saying to Tommy as they were at their lockers getting their needed books to complete the homework for the night. "You would think that Angelica would have better sense than to hang out with Stedwell's godson, for God's sake!"

Tommy shrugged. "She probably doesn't even know the fact. You know that she's been complaining that she _still _hasn't been to his house for anything?"

"That doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't want her to know about Stedwell."

"It could."

The two arrived in the classroom. There were two other kids (Mari and an unfamiliar African-American boy), but no Stedwell. They then sit down near the two others.

The boy nodded at the newcomers. "Yo, my name's Devonte. You Phil and Tommy?"

The two nodded in the affirmative.

"What are you here for?" Phil then asked Devonte.

"Man, its a long story," he shook his head. "In the end, he got pissed off."

"This about the upcoming project about Africa?"

"Yeah. He wanted to assign groups for the stupid project, you know? I wanted to work with Kimi and a few other people who actually knew what was going on or at least cared. But, no. He assigns me to work with a couple guys and a girl who don't know or care what to do for a group project. So, naturally, I went off on him."

Tommy shook his head. "At least Kimi didn't get into trouble again."

"Sheech Louise. I could tell she was trying not to blow a fuse. I commend her on that."

"Good on Kimi."

The four kept on waiting.

"Man! Where in the heck is Stedwell?" Devonte cried. "You would think the sleazebag would be on time to torture us!"

"Beats me," Tommy muttered.

"Whatever," Mari waved a hand. "Ten minutes and we out."

A younger teacher, possibly one of the eighth grade teachers came in the room. The four stare at her, confused as to what was going to happen.

"Are you the kids serving detention for Mr. Stedwell?" was the first thing she asked of the four.

They nod.

"Where is he?" Devonte demands.

"I regret to inform you that Mr. Stedwell will not be able to oversee your detention today or for the rest of the week for that matter."

There were smiles exchanged by the four kids.

"However, he has requested that you complete some assignments- extra homework, I presume."

The kids didn't even groan. Not having to spend time in Stedwell's presence was good enough for them.

"I will go ahead and contact your parents to come pick you up. I would go on and get started on the work he has assigned you."

She then left the room.

The quartet then whooped and high-fived.

"Yeah baby! So what if we got extra work?" Devonte cried.

"It's ten times better than spending a moment of our time listening to Stedwell putting us down!" Mari agreed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We're forgetting the mission at hand!" Phil then cried.

"What are you talking about, Phil? We're going home early, and that's it. We ain't gonna spend any more time here this week, and that's a fact."

"Don't you find this suspicious at all? Why _isn't _he here to torture us? It's practically his favorite hobby!"

"Phil's right, you guys," Tommy said. "There's something fishy going on, and we gotta find out what it is."

"Tommy might have a point going on here," Devonte said.

"I say we wait it out, and see what happens," Mari said. "If Señor Imbécil is absent from class tomorrow, then we gotta investigate."

"Can we celebrate first?" Devonte piped up.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Just for like a second. _Then, _we will commence the investigation."

"A'ight, a'ight. I gotcha."

It was agreed among the quartet that they wait it out.

"Come on, we gotta get to the main office," Tommy then said. "Our parents should be here soon."

* * *

The next day was a Wednesday, which meant that most of the kids were either tired or annoyed with the current state of the week: stuck in the middle.

Luckily, Stedwell turned out to be absent today, leading to much celebration among the seventh graders that were all unlucky enough to have him as a teacher. Luana, the Pickles brothers and the DeVille twins arrived at homeroom wondering who their substitute was going to be.

The lucky substitute teacher was an older mustachioed man by the name of Mr. Greenburg. He took roll, and so far so good.

"So, your regular teacher left me some lesson plans here. You are supposed to be meeting with your assigned groups for your Africa project, right?"

"I guess that's right," Phil echoed cheerfully from the third row. "Just one question, sir."

"What is that- uh- Mr. DeVille?"

"Where is our "regular teacher" and is he never coming back?"

Some of the class chuckled.

"I have no overt knowledge of where Mr. Stedwell is, but he should be back by next Monday."

Phil then muttered, "Dang!"

"I take it you are not a fan?"

"None of us are. Stedwell's the worst."

"You're very lucky," Luana added. "Sometimes substitute teachers are treated so horribly."

Greenburg was suddenly very uncomfortable. "Uh- good to know, Miss. Lorner."

Luana then nodded.

"All right now, class. Get into your groups."

The kids then obeyed.

Tommy's assigned group was him and three other kids. He, Phil, Lil, Dil and Luana were all separated into different groups. The very fact angered almost the entire class. Luckily, they saved Greenburg a break.

The kids all regrouped during lunch to discuss their bittersweet situation.

"What do you think happened with Stedwell?" Lil wondered.

"It was the weirdest thing," Phil said. "He never showed up for detention yesterday."

"That is weird," Kimi said. "You would think he would show up to torture us."

"You know what this means, don't you?" Phil leaned across the table.

"What, Phillip?" Luana wondered.

"It's time to investigate."

Chuckie whimpered, and the others chimed in agreement.

"So…who wants to investigate with me?" Phil then asked. "Any takers?"

Tommy sighed, heavily. "I'll go."

The two then left for the history wing.

"Teacher alert!" Phil then hissed.

The eighth grade African-American history teacher (probably the eldest of all the history teachers) appeared from the offices, with a suspicious look on his face.

"What is this, boys?"

Tommy and Phil exchanged looks.

"Well, sir, I lost my notebook during my history class. I went back to the classroom and it wasn't there," Tommy then managed to lie.

Yes, Tommy! Get at it! Phil thought.

"Very well. Come wait in the lounge, and I'll see if I could find it in the lost-and-found," the teacher, Mr. Hennessy, said.

Dang! He bought it.

He led the two in the offices, and toward the lounge.

"Wait here, while I check the lost-and-found. No funny business."

"You got it."

Hennessy then left the room.

"You see that?" Phil whispered to Tommy. "He bought it."

"Yeah, so now what?" Tommy then demanded.

"Uh…" Phil trailed off.

A couple of younger teachers then walked in the room to get some coffee.

"Duck for cover!" hissed Phil. The boys then duck under the table.

"You hear about Stedwell?" one of the teachers mentioned.

"Oh yeah. I heard he got called into some business, whatever that means."

The first teacher shrugged. "Who knows? The fact that he appears, just as "HIS" followers decided to infiltrate the Pacific Northwest."

"And word has it that those neo-Nationalists are coming right here in California. You hear of Lukas Merrington?"

"Isn't he the guy that got forced out of New England for some involvement with the neo-Nationalist movement over there?"

"Um-hmm. The very one."

"I reckon we got a neo-Nationalist in our area. Either Merrington or Stedwell. This situation could be detrimental to the kids' education."

"Could be. But…let's just shut it for now. It's just speculation spread by those wackos from the _Inquirer."_

The two teachers then left, after getting their coffee. Tommy and Phil then rose up back in sight, just as Hennessy returned to the room.

"Well…I did not find any notebooks in the lost-and-found, here," he said to the duo.

"Oh, maybe I left it in Spanish class," Tommy then snapped his fingers. "Man, that memory sure does play tricks, eh?"

"Uh huh. I would go on back to the cafeteria now. Good luck to you."

Tommy then slipped out with Phil in tow. "Thanks, sir."

"Did you hear that?" Phil cried, as the two headed back to the patio area. "Stedwell AND Angelica's new friend's father _are _Nazi types!"

"That doesn't prove anything," Tommy shook his head. "Like those teachers were saying, it's only speculation."

"Or _isn't _it?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The next week at school had been particularly stressful and the weekend couldn't come soon enough. The friends were all at the Java Lava as usual, discussing the weekend plans. Dil and Luana, were still not here, of course. Chuckie hung back, working his usual shift at the counter.

"Man, this week really sucked!" Phil groaned.

"Only because Stedwell's back from the depths of hell, right?" Lil said. "I'm with you."

"At least we get to present those boring projects next week, and our detention will be up," Tommy said.

"Those projects were a joke," Kimi then started.

"Here we go," Phil rolled his eyes.

"He only asked us to use the information out of the textbook! No outside sources! It's sick!"

"Kimi-"

"And above all, he _assigned _the dang groups! He's an embarrassment to the educational system!"

"You have to admit that Kimi is making a valid point here," Harmonie said.

"There you go!" Kimi motioned a hand across. "Harmonie agrees with me."

"The bad news is that Stedwell is still an authority figure and that the school system, although flawed, still dictates the curriculum. It's a real shame."

"We should take action on this, you know?"

"Um- pardon me, but instead of talking about the pointless school, we should be talking about the possibility of the pointless school being taken over by nazi schoolteachers!" Phil then chimed in.

The girls all groan.

"God, Phil!"

"Well, what else is there to talk about?"

"Okay, I'm going to help Chuckie!" Kimi held her hands up in a surrender-like manner, as she headed back toward the counter.

"Maybe for once, we should talk about something cheerful!" Lil cried.

"Like what? The stinking weather?" Phil argued back.

"Well, I-"

"Salutations, comrades!" Luana's cheerful voice echoed through the Java Lava. She and Dil then came toward them. Luana, in particular, was wearing a mysterious looking pendent around her neck. Tommy could noticed that it contrasted with her eccentric but usual organically-made pink coat.

"Thank goodness Dil and Luana are here," Tommy sighed in relief.

"Where have you been, guys?" Phil wanted to know.

"Luana and I went to the curio shop, nearby. You know, Otto's Oddities?" Dil then explained their tardiness.

"Oh yeah. Okay. What'd you get?"

"I didn't get anything, but Luana got this wicked cool pendant."

Luana smiled, as she showed off her new pendant which was a blood red stone surrounded by a silvery pewter.

"Whoa! That's some necklace!" exclaimed Phil.

"It is a talisman, according to Otto," Luana explained. "He says that this pendant will provide the wearer with ultimate immortality at the next full moon."

"Ooh!"

"Guys!" Lil then cried. "Please do _not _tell me that you actually believe in this hocus pocus!"

"Um- Lil?" Tommy uttered. "We're talking about Dil and Luana, who both believe that aliens are going to come take over the planet in 2012."

"It could happen," muttered Dil.

"So? It doesn't mean that Luana's gonna have immortality at the next full moon!" Lil retorted. "Only because she and Dil believe that it could possibly, might possibly happen."

"Well, when's the next full moon, then?" Phil then demanded.

"The next full moon will be on 21 October," Harmonie answered.

"That's a week from Monday!" Phil then exclaimed.

"Thanks, Harmonie," Tommy then said.

"Always here to help."

Phil continued. "Think about it, Luana. You'll be immortal, probably having the most power possible during a full moon! Think of the possibilities! You might even frighten Stedwell back to where he came from!"

Luana laughed. "I can just imagine the very prospect, but alas."

"Alas?"

"Perhaps Lillian is right."

Dil nodded. "Yeah, I mean, this immortality stuff is like out of a movie and you know- this is real life."

"Spoken by the man who speaks to his "alien brethren" every Friday evening," Phil said.

"Phil-" Lil growled at her twin.

"So, what is up?" Luana then changed the subject.

"We're just sitting here, enjoying the nice weather, and complaining about Stedwell's bogus project," Lil sighed. "How about you two?"

"Dylan and I are doing wicked great. You know, Otto from the curio shop seems like a nice fellow. I can't really place my finger on it, but it seems like he understands us somehow."

"I can see why," muttered Phil. Lil then kicked him.

"OW!"

"Guys! Cut it out!" Tommy then ordered.

Susie and Harold suddenly appear in the Java Lava, wearing backpacks and carrying library books. Susie, in particular, was in a sour mood. She slammed her backpack and books on a table.

"Uh- I'll get the drinks," Harold said, awkwardly.

"Hey, Harold," Chuckie greeted, once it was Harold's turn. "What's with Susie?"

Harold sighed, heavily. "We saw Angelica and Dalton at the library, and Susie went aggro."

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"We basically left. She couldn't stand to be in the same building as them, let alone the same room."

"Wow. That's tough. I guess you and Susie are really not friends with Angelica anymore."

"It's a shame. We've known her since preschool and we've never had this much of a distance from her. Even with her "popularity phase" with Savannah and Samantha, she's always willing to still be friends with us."

"That's because she wasn't in those girls' favors for very long," Chuckie then pointed out. "Maybe- perhaps- it's different with Dalton."

"Yeah, I think you may be right, Chuck. I think this is different."

"HAROLD! Where's my stinkin' drink?" Susie demanded angrily from their table.

"Heh, heh. Uh- just go ahead and get us two Mocha Javas on the double."

Chuckie glanced anxiously toward the vexed Susie. "You got it."

Harold then slinked back toward Susie.

Harmonie came over toward the counter.

"Everything all right?" she asked worriedly.

"Well, Susie's angry at Angelica and Dalton and Harold's in the middle, even though they're shunning him too."

"What a travesty!"

"I know. I just hope things will get back to normal for them."

"I agree with that sentiment."

* * *

"So, are we going or what?" Angelica echoed through the library.

"Hmm? Say what?" Dalton was still taking notes from several different book sources.

"Are we gonna eat lunch or what?" she then demanded. "It's like almost noon."

"You haven't eaten today?"

"No, I was too busy trying to get to the damn library, Merrington."

"Patience, Pickles. Just give me a couple more minutes for these notes and we will go on to lunch."

Angelica whined. "This is _so _boring!"

She got up and paced around. She thought of earlier, when Susie and Harold had nearly crossed paths with her. Luckily, they didn't. However, Susie became so angry, that she and Harold high-tailed it out of the library.

Whatever. She could care less about Carmichael and her drama. She should just realize and admit that she was jealous of her newfound friendship with Merrington and leave it be. Besides, Angelica was tired of always hanging around two loser, goody-two-shoes anyway. She had tons more fun with Merrington.

Except now.

"Ugh! Are ya done yet or what?" she then stamped impatiently toward him.

Lucky for her, Dalton seemed finished with his work.

"Yes, we are done for the day." He began packing his notebooks and the books in his backpack.

"Good."

The two then left the library. The long black limo was out waiting for them.

"So, where would you like to go have lunch?"

"Your house."

Dalton glanced at her. "What?"

"Did I stutter? I want to come over to your house for lunch."

He clinched his teeth. "We've discussed this before, Pickles."

"Merrington, we've known each other for like two months! Why won't you trust me enough to come over?"

"It's complicated."

"No, it's not. It's simple. Look, I already know you're filthy rich, so you don't have to be embarrassed about showing off your riches to me. I already know that your parents are important in terms of popularity and prestige, so you don't have to worry-"

"It's not _that, _Pickles!"

"Then, what is it?"

Dalton sighed, angrily. "Just get in the bloody limo."

"Okay, okay. Sheech! I just wanted to ask you a simple question."

There was a stifled silence between the two, as the limo moved away from the library and toward the wealthier part of town.

"Jenkins? Home, please."

"Yes, Master Dalton."

Angelica grinned. He had relented.

"You're damn lucky my parents aren't home," he then hissed at her.

"What's wrong with your parents?"

Mysteriously, Dalton was silent on that subject.

The limo finally stopped at a villa-like mini-mansion of Victorian influences on St. Devon Street. Angelica had to give the Merringtons props on a pretty cool house.

"This way," he led her in the house.

Angelica followed him in the front door. The first thing she saw was a huge winding staircase, as well as a enormous chandelier hanging by a golden chain.

"Damn! Your house is so much better and bigger than mine!" she then exclaimed.

Dalton smirked at this. "Jealous?"

Angelica glared at him. "You bastard!"

They then adjourned to the parlor.

"Why don't you wait here and I'll get Cook to make us our lunch?"

"Sure, why not? Hurry up, I'm starving!"

"Patience is a virtue."

"Shutting up is a virtue," she retorted back at him.

He left, and Angelica laid down, bored, on the plush settee. There was only a couple of artsy coffee table books laying on the said glass table.

"No good magazines or anything," she grumbled.

She then decided to explore the vast living room or "parlor" as Dalton and the couple of servants that they encountered termed it. Numerous Roman and Greek artifacts adorned the room. The seemingly prodigious fireplace was situated to her left. There were more artifacts on the mantle itself, and also above the fireplace was a self-portrait painting of a devious looking aristocratic blonde man. Could it be Merrington's dad or granddad? She couldn't tell when the portrait was done so it was difficult to tell. But she could tell that the dude was pure evil; his eyes seem to be glaring at something or other and there was no smile on his face. Not even a smirk. He only frowned, with arms folded in a cold manner. It even caused Angelica's spine to be overcome by chills.

She then walked slowly toward another room even bigger than the last. The walls were practically filled with bookshelves clad with books. This room had to be the library.

"Still no magazines," Angelica frowned, as she made her way toward the desk near the windows.

"Hello, what's this?" she gestured at a mysterious looking book. She opened it to the save page.

"A talisman that can give the wearer immortality at the next full moon? Cool!" Angelica nodded in approval. "I can live with that, living forever…"

She plopped herself in the big chair at the desk.

"Merrington seems to have it going on. I'm impressed."

She noticed other interesting artifacts and several posters reading WE WILL PREVAIL! PURE-BLOOD ARYAN PRIDE! WE BELIEVE IN HIERARCHY AND ORDER!

Should she even worry? She shrugged. It's probably just a stupid cult-like club that is made for people to complain about the diversity of the world. Who knows? All Angelica cared about was showing Merrington who's boss and that no one should claim popularity in their first week in school. _No one!_

"Pickles?"

Damn! She better high-tail it out of here.

She slipped out of the library/study and back toward the parlor.

Dalton was standing there, displeased.

"Where were you, Pickles?" he demanded.

"Calm down, Merrington. I just had to use the restroom, that's all," Angelica glared at him. "Where's our lunch?"

"This way."

You're going down, Merrington, Angelica then thought. This info that I just found out could be useful to me. Ha, you're going _way_ down.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

The following Monday was full of anticipation, as the seventh graders cursed with Stedwell had to present their Africa projects today. Tommy and friends, however, were more anxious due to Luana's pendent and tonight would be a full moon. At least, the ones that truly believed in the supernatural effects (Chuckie and Phil). The others, to no avail tried to convince their believing friends that it was just a story. Luana, simply was enthralled with her new pendent, although she waved off the possible effects of it.

Tommy sighed, as he went to his locker to prepare himself for homeroom.

"Ready for another rousing session of Stedwell's class?" Phil came up toward him.

"I guess," Tommy sighed, heavily. "I wish my group would present today just so I'd get this horror of a presentation over with."

"I'm with you. At least Dil's group and Luana's group are going today. It should be interesting at least."

"Yeah. At least."

Stedwell stood at the front of the room, while the students filed in, some with big posters and handouts.

"God, this is gonna be boring!" groaned Lil.

She wasn't kidding. Even Stedwell seemed bored.

"All right, the West African group will go first."

Dil's group.

"Uh…Mr. Stedwell," Luana had her hand raised. "My group was going to volunteer to go first."

"Too bad. I am the teacher and therefore West Africa will go first."

"Jerk," muttered Lil.

Dil sighed heavily, as he and his group strode to the front of the room with three other kids.

"So, our region was West Africa, which consists of sixteen countries and an area of about five million square kilometers…"

As the group presented their dry, cold facts about West Africa, Tommy noticed something odd about Stedwell. He seemed to be staring intently at something. Someone, he corrected himself, as he figured it all out.

Stedwell was staring at Luana and her pendent!

"Phil! Hey, Phil!" Tommy hissed across to Phil.

"Yo, what, Tommy?"

"It's Stedwell! He's staring at the pendent!"

"What pendent?"

"Luana's pendent, Phil! He's eyeing that thing, like he wants it!"

"That's not good. Why would he want to live forever?"

"Like I know!"

"No talking, Pickles and DeVille!"

The two slunk down in their seats, not saying another word to each other.

Dil's group had finished their presentation and their Jeopardy game on West African facts.

"Lovely presentation," Stedwell yawned. Evidently, he was sarcastic.

"Let's hear it for the West African group!" Phil led the class in applause.

Stedwell was now glaring at Phil, as opposed to Luana's pendent.

"Lorner's group is next."

"Now give it up for the Sub-Saharan Africa group!" Phil was now standing.

"Sit down, DeVille," Stedwell hissed. "We get it."

Phil then sat back down. "Geez! Just trying to bring some excitement, you know?"

Luana smiles as she headed to the front of the room with her group and a big, colorful poster.

"Good morning, everyone! Are you all ready to learn about Sub-Saharan Africa?"

"Yeah, sure," the class then responded, bored.

"You all must be wondering where exactly the name "Sub-Saharan" came from, eh?"

Tommy stared worriedly at Luana, as she cheerfully presented the facts in her own eccentric way, even adding some of her own interesting facts, many of which were irrelevant. Her pendent was sparking, making her presence more profound.

The presentation was finished and the bell rang signaling the end of first period.

"Miss. Lorner…a moment, please," Stedwell then uttered.

"Uh oh," Phil muttered.

"I'd better stick around," Dil said. "Preferably outside where I can hear."

"You'll be late for class," Tommy protested.

"I'll be fine till the warning bell. Go on, T."

"Okay," sighed Tommy, obviously defeated. He and the twins then went off.

"Is there…an issue, Mr. Stedwell?" Luana wondered, not showing any sign of nervousness.

"I demand to know what you are wearing around your neck."

The pendent!

"It's a pendent from Otto's Curio Shop."

"Hmm." Stedwell seemed too interested in Dil's opinion.

"I assure you, sir. I do not think I'm violating rules, if that's the case," Luana then said, without a beat.

"Do you believe… in the supernatural?"

"Well…in a way, however I do tend to separate the supernatural from the reality."

"Clever girl," Stedwell muttered.

"Very well, Miss. Lorner. You may go on to class now," he then said quietly.

Luana then left the classroom, and bumped into Dil.

"Dylan? Were you eavesdropping?"

"I was concerned."

"That's awfully nice of you. You weren't worried about being late to class?"

"The warning bell hasn't rung yet."

Silence.

"Are you worried about me? Because of my pendent?" she then asked him.

"Well, yeah! Stedwell seemed a little _too _interested in that pendent. Maybe…it _is _does give you immortality."

"Ah, Dylan! It doesn't mean anything!"

"I don't know about that, Luana. Tonight's the full moon."

"I'll be fine, Dylan. I assure you."

Dil sighed, and nodded.

"We better get to class…"

The warning bell was now ringing.

"…the warning bell just rang."

* * *

Dil couldn't sleep well that night. Even though Luana told him not to worry about her, he couldn't help but worry. Luana was his friend, and who knows if the power of the pendent is real, and if it is, will she be all right?

It was still dark outside when he climbed out of bed. Yawning, he sat up and did some thinking. Should he call Luana? Should he wake up Tommy? He stares at the alarm clock, which read 6:03. Up and awake at six in the morning? What was with him?

It had to be the work of aliens.

"Dil?" he heard his brother's tired voice. "You awake?"

He doesn't answer, but Tommy came in the room anyway.

"Hey, T. You couldn't sleep either?"

"Well, I heard something stir in your room and just figured you were already up."

Silence.

"I hope Luana's okay."

Tommy glanced intently at his brother. "You still worried about her?"

Dil shrugs. "I'm starting to rethink this pendent stuff. There might be a chance that it _could _have a powerful effect on her."

"You really believe it?"

"I'm not sure, T. I'm just not sure."

Dil was still preoccupied once he got through the first half of school later that day. He kept yawning, as he stopped at his locker.

"Dylan!" Luana's voice rang out.

He turned to see her, smiling cheerfully as usual, her pendent still sparkling in the fluorescent lights.

"You were so quiet in history today. Were you particularly wary of Stedwell?"

"Somewhat."

"Don't let him get you down, Dylan. You're better than that."

"Uh- thanks Luana."

"Always happy to help."

"Move along, move along!" Stedwell's voice bellowed through the hallway.

"It's lunch period," Dil blurts out. Of course, he immediately regrets it.

"What…did…you..say…boy?" Stedwell hissed dangerously.

"It's lunch period?"

Stedwell was now glaring at both Dil and Luana.

"You are on very thin ice."

Dil panicked inside. What now? He can't afford to get in trouble.

"Dylan wasn't doing anything wrong, sir."

He snapped his gaze at Luana and was now glaring at her.

"You have gotten on my _last _nerve!" He started to come at her.

"Sir, I assure you-" she defends herself by shoving him away from her. Dil noticed that the blood red stone on her pendent was glowing.

Dil gasped, as Stedwell almost lost his balance, by the shove. Strangely, he did not retaliate. He only glanced, flabbergasted at Luana's pendent.

"The Talisman of Ambrosius!" Dil could clearly hear him mutter, as he slipped away from the kids.

Dil now directed his attention to a surprised and freaked Luana.

"Luana? You okay?"

"I-I don't know, Dylan. What just h-happened?"

"I have no idea. I think it's the pendent."

"T-this is all surreal," Luana exclaimed, as she squeezed the stone tightly. "I think I can live with this!"

"Huh?"

"It was just- wonderful! He was so threatened by me!"

"We might be in trouble for this," Dil then said, quietly.

"Dylan, did you see the look on his face? He was scared- of my pendent! He wouldn't dream of reporting us. He thinks that I might do worse, if that's the case."

"Maybe, but I'm still wary."

"Come along, Dylan. We better go eat lunch now."

* * *

"So, what exactly are you saying?" Phil wanted to know, once Dil and Luana detailed the earlier situation to him and the others.

"She practically shoved him away, shoving him to the ground!" Dil was trying to convey to his friends. "I'm telling you, the talisman is real!"

"_Now _he believes me!"

"This is ridiculous! Are you _really _going to believe that that _thing _caused Luana to suddenly stand against Stedwell?" Lil then cried.

"Yeah."

"Come on! How can you possibly know that?"

"You make a valid point, Lillian," Luana said. "Dylan and I should probably visit Otto's Curio Shop. We need to find out exactly where he got it and how I could possibly live with this."

Phil shrugged. "Well, the full moon only lasts for like a day."

"Yes, but why would Stedwell want the pendent? He wouldn't want it, if the powers only last for a day."

"Point taken."

* * *

"Otto? Otto? Are you here?" Dil and Luana were silently walking through the curio shop, anxiously peering around.

"Who's there?" they hear a gruff voice from the back-room. "Whaddya kids want?"

"It's Dil Pickles and Luana Lorner," Dil then replied, nervously.

A portly, grumpy man of sixty-something stumbled out of the back-room and toward the two kids that had come in the shop.

"It's you two," he grumbled. "What is it?"

"It's about the pendent you sold me this weekend, Otto," Luana replied.

"Does it _really _grant you immortality and possibly even more."

Otto sighed heavily. "So, it's about that talisman, eh? Come over here."

He directed the two into the back-room, and Luana told him the entire story about what happened earlier today.

"So, you had a little fight with yer teacher, eh?" Otto reacted to this, as he retrieved an old looking book from the bookshelf near his desk.

"Precisely, sir."

He flipped through the book.

"Well, I found yer pendent, girlie. The Talisman of Ambrosius."

Dil suddenly pulled Luana toward him.

"Stedwell said that! Just as he ran from us!"

"Later, Dylan. We have to get information about it first!"

"All right. C'mere," Otto motioned to the kids.

"What you possess here, girlie, is a very powerful, ancient talisman. This ain't for the lightweights."

"Do you think that- all that stuff happened with Stedwell, was due to this pendent?" Dil wanted to know.

"The Talisman of Ambrosius was created by a most powerful magician that lived in the Transylvanian part of Romania. The wearer is given the ultimate power of immortality, ultra-bravery and strength and it also protects them from their enemies. This in the wrong hands…well it could lead to worse things than living forever."

"What do you mean, Otto?" Dil wondered.

"I never thought that I had to be tellin' you kids this, boy, but I didn't get this talisman from some black market business.

"It was in July. I was working late as usual, when this guy comes in. He spoke in some kind of Slavic accent, and sold me the thing for fifty seven grand."

"57,000?"

"Yeh. You think I would turn down fifty seven grand? No flippin' way!"

"You say the guy who sold it to you was Slavic right?"

"Yeh. The name was Vladimir something. I remember the guy freaking out, afraid the thing would get in the wrong hands…"

"Wrong hands? Is there some type of villain out there?" Luana asked.

"Look, I've talked too much about this, okay?" Otto waved his hand at them, presumedly for the kids to leave.

"Otto, wait! What about this Stedwell problem? Vladimir? Otto, what is going on?"

Otto sighed, heavily. "Fine, you got me. I will tell youse. Sit down here."

He directed at an old looking couch near the desk.

"Romania used to be in the Iron Curtain of the Soviets. Not a lot of people were safe over there, you know? So the western Europe and even here got an influx of Romanians or whatever runaways from the Soviet regime. Especially them religious folks, seeing as the Soviets ain't religious at all, you know? Well, some of the Slavic folks came to this country, particularly to the Northeast, not just New York but other places as well.

"Unfortunately, there was one fellow who stood for all things wrong. Lothar Drakos. The most diabolical, malicious, cruel, foul creature in the universe.

"It is said that he suddenly disappeared after the Soviets lost control of the Eastern Europe and that it's rumored that he came _here, _with the religious Romanians and Slavic folks.

"Do you think…he's around here?" Dil uttered.

"How in the flimflam do I know? I've told youse too much! Get outta here!"

"But Otto-"

"GET!"

The two kids obeyed, more confused than ever.

"Wait! Girlie!"

Luana stopped, turned around, and walked back toward Otto.

"Take this," he thrusted the old book at her. "Treat the Talisman of Ambrosius like a precious treasure, girlie."

Luana nods. "Yes, sir."

"Now, you and the boy need to get. I don't want this here conversation to get out. You hear?"

"Yes, Otto. We understand."

"Good. Get!"

The two walked to the Java Lava, as soon as possible.

"So, what now?" Dil then asked of his friend.

"What do you mean, Dylan?"

"We find out this information about a possible bad guy coming here and ruining everything."

"We'll be fine, Dylan. And you know why?"

"Why?"

"In this book…somewhere…there is a way for the talisman to work its magic, even after the full moon."

"Luana, you're not thinking…you're really not thinking-"

"I am, Dylan. If Otto is right and this Lothar person is around this area, it's best to be on your toes."

"Good point, but still not sold."

"Trust me, Dylan. You don't have to agree…but just trust me."

Silence.

"Okay."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"GOD! I hate Wednesdays!" groaned Phil, as he went in the school entrance with Tommy, Lil, and Kimi.

"What else is new?" Lil sighed heavily. "You also hate Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and part of Fridays."

"What's your point, Lillian?"

"I don't need to have a point, Phillip! You just need to-"

"Guys! Please!" Tommy cried.

The twins quieted, and they along with Kimi glanced at him worriedly.

"What's the matter, Tommy?" Phil wondered. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"Well, you're kinda grumpy."

"He's grumpy, because it's _Wednesday, _remember?" Lil nudged her brother.

"Give it up, Lillian!"

"NO!"

Tommy sighed heavily and walked over to his locker.

"Tommy?" Kimi walked, hurridly up to him. "Is there something bugging you?"

"It's Dil, Kimi."

"Dil? What's wrong with Dil?"

"Nothing, I mean there's nothing wrong with _Dil, _per se. It's more about Luana."

"Oh. The pendent."

"Yeah. I think there's something funky about that thing she's been wearing."

Kimi shrugged. "Maybe it's just your imagination. Maybe there's a logical explanation."

"Really? There's a logical explanation to why Luana suddenly stood up to Mr. Stedwell? Kimi, you were there, when Dil and Luana told us."

"I know, Tommy. But…this is all too surreal. I mean pendents that actually cause you to live forever? To protect you from your enemies? That sort of stuff is like only in movies, you know?"

"So are aliens, but that doesn't mean a thing to Dil, eh?"

"Okay, so you made a point there. But still…"

The bell rang for homeroom. Tommy groaned.

"Time for another lovely first period with Stedwell."

Kimi laughed a little. "Good luck, Tommy. Maybe Luana will freak him out again with the pendent and it'll actually be a good class today."

"You wish."

With that said, the two went their separate ways and went to their respective homerooms. Tommy, in turn, met up with the twins, who have thankfully, ceased their arguing.

"Hey, you seen Chuckie?" Phil wondered as he and Tommy went in the classroom.

Tommy shrugged. "I saw him talking to Harmonie, when we got to school. Far as I know, he's not taking the bus to and from school anymore."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He has this little carpool with Harmonie now."

"Carpool? Ain't that for elementary school kids?"

Before Tommy could answer, the warning bell rang. Dil and Luana had just arrived at that moment. Stedwell, on the other hand, had not arrived as of yet.

"Salutations, everyone!" Luana greeted, happily.

"Hey, Luana," Lil greeted back.

"What's the haps, yo!" Phil said.

"We cool, we cool," Dil responded to him.

Luana laughed a little. "Come along, Dylan. Stedwell will be here any second to louse up our joy."

"True that."

* * *

"It was the weirdest thing. Stedwell hardly yelled at us today," Tommy was saying at lunch period.

"Who knows why!" Kimi sighed, irately. "Maybe he's bored with the idea."

"Bored? Kimi, please!" Phil rolled his eyes. "Stedwell is _born _to bully students."

"Maybe he has a point," Harmonie said. "Perhaps, he is in a rut."

"A rut? Come on!"

"It's because he wants that pendent!" Dil cried. "He's trying to play with our minds so that he'd be able to take the opportunity and take the pendent!"

"Dil!" groaned Tommy.

"Maybe Dylan's right, you all," Luana said. "As a matter of fact, he has been acting uncharacteristically kind to me."

"Hmm," Phil nodded. "Maybe they got a point. Come on. We got more spying to do."

Tommy, Lil and Kimi threw up their hands in despair. Chuckie whimpered.

"Don't try to argue! We're going to get to the bottom of this and there's nothing you all can do to stop us!" Phil cried.

Chuckie shook his head. "I'm afraid he's right."

"Course I'm right. Come on guys."

Phil, Dil and Luana walked off back toward the school building. Tommy sighed heavily, as he turned to follow them.

"I'll make sure they stay out of trouble," he then said to Chuckie and the girls.

Phil, Dil, Luana, and Tommy then walked through the hallway, trying their hardest to not appear suspicious.

"What do you _mean _she has the talisman?" a wimpy, timid voice rang from Stedwell's classroom.

"Guys!" Tommy hissed urgently waving his friends over. "Let's check this out!"

The four then stood outside of Stedwell's classroom to hear the conversation taking place right now.

"Did I not just tell you, you idiot?" Stedwell's voice angrily replied to the other person. "That Lorner girl bought the talisman from some bloody curio shop downtown."

"So, what now?"

"You will retrieve it, that is what!"

"Retrieve it?"

"Is there a problem, Peterson?"

"N-no. It's just…"

"Just _what?"_

_ "_She's only a girl, you know? It's not like she's going to use it to take over the world or anything."

"You moron! The girl is smarter than she looks! Those brats are on to us!"

"Brats?"

"Lorner, those Pickles boys, DeVille, and that insufferable Finster girl."

"Oh. Well, they're just kids, you know?"

"Shut up with the "they're just kids" rubbish, Peterson! You will retrieve the talisman by the end of the week, or there will be dire consquences! Understand?"

"Yes, s-sir."

"Did you hear that?" Phil squeaked, as the kids then rushed back to the cafeteria. "They're planning to take Luana's pendent!"

"They won't take it from me," Luana shook her head. "They can't just reach out and grab it. It would have to be off from around my neck, for it to be snatched."

"You think Stedwell knows that?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Yet, we _all _have to be on our toes."

The boys nod in agreement.

* * *

"Aw, come on Merrington! Why won't you tell me more about yourself?" Angelica was whining, later that same day at lunch period at Wydom High.

Dalton glared darkly across at her. They were sitting at a table to themselves. He was already grouchy, when one of his friends teased him about being romantically involved with Angelica.

The girl in question sat across from him, pouting now.

"What do you want to know, Pickles?" he snapped. "You know plenty about me. I told you that I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where _Harvard _is located, and that my father is a very successful bureaucrat-"

"WAS a very successful bureaucrat."

Dalton's eyes narrowed. "He's going to rise to the top, Angelica Pickles. I envision him as governor of California."

Angelica snorted. "Oh please! He's got no chance against... that German dude. Your father probably couldn't even be mayor of Cambridge."

"I have you know my father was a school governor for my private school back home, and was a prominent part of implimenting many policies."

"Oh, impressive!" Angelica waved her hands, in an exaggerated way. "So what about your mom? You said she was crazy, right?"

"Hmm, depends how you want to see it."

"So, she's completely and utterly nuts?"

"Yeah."

"My mom went through a period last year, when she didn't have a job. Thank goodness she's back in the business field!"

"Yes. Thank goodness for that."

"What does your mom do?"

"She doesn't have a true career. She is a society wife."

"That sounds that an unfulfilling job. I'm much more ambitious. _I _will grow up and take over my mother's business and then _expand."_

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, _really!" _Angelica was now glaring at him. "What are you, some type of sexist maniac?"

Dalton suddenly realized his mistake. "Oh, no, no, Pickles. I wouldn't dare stop you from pursuing your dreams."

"I thought so."

Susie and Harold walked toward them, with Chuckie and Harmonie in tow. Angelica glanced at them, wondering if those losers, mainly Carmichael, have moved on.

The quartet stopped for just a mere second, and the former best friends/foils link eyes. Susie then broke her gaze, and led her friends toward the media center.

"Damn losers," Angelica only shook her head and took a sip of her water.

* * *

"Whooo, happy Halloween!"

Dil emerged from his bedroom, clad in a magician costume. Tommy, as a cowboy, just shock his head and laughed.

"Who're you supposed to be, little bro?"

"I'm a magician! What's so funny, T?"

"I dunno. This is a first, I guess. You almost always have been an alien or a manatee for Halloween-"

"Don't forget, Luana will be coming over in a half hour. She's going to be a witch."

"Not a normal one, I suspect."

"Knowing Luana, she's always full of surprises."

The two brothers then walked downstairs toward the living room. Stu, dressed as a mad scientist, was near the front door, setting up the candy bowl.

"Cool costume, Dad!" Dil smiles.

"Why thank you son. Now, I will retreat to the basement and work on my _experiment! _You have fun now."

He leaves and Tommy shrugged.

"Dad's taking Halloween pretty seriously, eh?"

Dil shook his head. "Apparently, Halloween is going to be different this year."

The doorbell buzzed.

"That could be Phil and Lil, Tommy headed for the door.

The twins came in the house dressed as Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.

"As you can tell, I lost a bet," Lil sighed, heavily.

"Your costumes are awesome though," Dil said.

"Yeah, sure," Lil then walked past him. Tommy and Dil could hear her mutter, "Let it go, Lil. Just let it go."

"So, are we gonna watch any scary movies?" Phil then asked, as the friends walked over to the living room.

"We should probably wait till Kimi and Luana get here," Dil points out. "Kimi's bringing over some movies for us."

"She's bringing the movies?"

"Yeah!" Lil replies, rolling her eyes. "Didn't you remember yesterday at the Java Lava? She _offered _to bring the movies."

"I could have brought over some really scary movies."

"I doubt it," Tommy sighed. "I remember last Halloween when you brought over this really intense movie. Chuckie had nightmares for weeks!"

"Well, that's _his _problem."

Just at that moment, Kimi, dressed as a Japanese geisha, strode in the house, with a paper bag full of DVDs.

"I got the movies!" she cries. "Everyone here yet?"

"Luana's yet to arrive, otherwise we're all here," Tommy came over and retrieve the bag from her.

"I brought a variety. _Psycho. Friday the 13th. Carrie."_

"What? You brought a bunch of old movies?" Phil wondered.

She rolls her eyes at him. "No. I got some newer ones here."

She then fished one out. "Oh, this one is _The Haunting of Yazley Manor."_

"Ooh, what's that one?" Lil asked.

"Well, the dude at the video store recommended it. It's about this rich family that's dying out, and this girl, who's the last remaining heir is inheriting the estate."

"Oh, interesting," Phil rolled his eyes.

"I haven't even finished. Anyway, the manor is haunted by I think her great-grandfather's former wife, who was cheated on and betrayed by her husband."

"Ooh."

"There's more. When the wife died, she put a curse on the entire family, and haunts the mansion. So, the girl has to somehow break the curse of the haunted Yazley Manor."

"Cool. Is it scary?"

"Dreadfully scary."

"Let's watch it!"

"Let's wait for Luana," Dil said.

"Aw, man! She probably doesn't even like scary movies."

"Like you know!"

The doorbell rang, and Tommy went to meet the first batch of trick-or-treaters.

When Tommy came back, Phil then groaned inpatiently.

"I hope she gets here soon. I wanna see the movie!"

"Patience, Phillip," Lil said aside to her brother.

"Shut up, Lillian!"

"You shut up!"

The door opens and Luana rushed in, wearing a Wicca witch costume.

"Hey, you guys! I hope I didn't keep you all waiting."

"No, it's just Phil."

Phil glared at his sister.

"Are we watching any movies?" she then asked.

"Depends. Are you alright with scary movies?" Kimi wondered.

"Oh, sure. I'm never troubled with scary movies."

"Good. We're watching _The Haunting of Yazley Manor."_

"Ah. Wicked!"

"Thank the Lord, Chuckie isn't here and is at Harmonie's house instead," Phil muttered to Tommy. "Otherwise, we'd _never _watch scary movies."

Lil glared at him, and Kimi starts the movie. Stu and Didi, dressed in their costumes came in the living room to tell them that they were off to the costume party at Charlotte's workplace, they would be back by ten, and to not spend all night watching scary movies.

With the adults gone, Tommy and friends watched anxiously as numerous scary scenes with the protagonist, a young brunette of twenty-something coming in contact with the ghost of the angry former wife, came about throughout the movie.

"Wanna bet that the girl gets locked in the house?" Phil muttered.

"You're kidding, right? This is a scary movie. Of course, she'll get locked in the stupid house!" Lil replied, wringing her hands.

"Well, sor-rie!"

The friends continue watching, with an occasional yelp at the heroine, whenever she did something "stupid," like opening a door that she shouldn't.

It soon became late, and the movie was coming to a close.

There was a knock on the door.

"Uh Tommy?" Phil uttered, nervously.

"Yeah?" Tommy was also nervous.

"Aren't your parents supposed to be back by ten?"

"Uh- yeah. What's your point?"

"Its nine, and someone's at the door."

The doorbell was now buzzing. Kimi paused the movie and looked anxiously toward the door.

"That can't _possibly _be treat-or-treaters. It's nine at night!"

The doorbell kept ringing.

"Seriously! Somebody should get that!" Lil then cried.

"I volunteer," Luana chirped, as if nothing was wrong. She got up from the floor, and the others, particularly Dil, who had been sitting next to her on the floor glanced anxiously as she opened the door.

A short, portly man was standing there, shaking, staring at Luana with scared beady eyes.

"Hello, kind sir," she greets, cheerfully. "How may I help you this fine evening?"

"I-I am l-looking for a M-Miss Luana L-Lorner."

"Speaking." Luana's cheerful face did not faze.

Tommy recognized that voice…

"Guys!" he hissed across to his friends. "It's him! The guy who was talking to Stedwell!"

"Well, what are we gonna do about it?" Phil hissed back.

"Just chill," Dil held up a hand to placate his friends. "Luana's got this."

"I am p-prepared to offer y-you sixty t-thousand dollars for that n-necklace you have there."

Luana motioned at her pendent, and replied without a beat. "Ah, this? I'm sorry, sir. It is not for sale."

"What the-?" Phil muttered. "She's turning down sixty grand!"

Lil then kicked her twin hard in the shin.

"OW!"

"M-Miss, you must c-consider my offer," the man reached out toward her. "The t-tailsman- very p-powerful- beyond your i-imagination-"

Luana carefully stepped back. "I am sorry, sir, but I am not interested."

"Close the door!" Phil cried.

Luana slammed the door in the man's face.

"Fiddlesticks, that was a close one."

Now, there was a loud banging on the door.

"Looks like the dude isn't going away," Phil said.

"Gee, ya think?" Lil cried. "Do something!"

"G-GIVE ME T-THE TALISMAN! P-PLEASE!"

Kimi and Lil were panicking and whimpering. Phil and Tommy only paced the room, muttering.

"Dylan," Luana turned toward Dil. "Perhaps, we need to make ourselves clearer to our little friend out there. Shall we?"

"Uh-"

Before Dil could get a word out in edgewise, Luana already opened the door as the man tried to yank the pendent off of her neck. She responds by grabbing him by the arm and throwing him out toward the front yard as hard as she could. Tommy and the others slipped outside to witness the spectcule.

"Oh- my- GOD!" Dil muttered.

Stedwell's lackey finally pulled himself off the ground and took another look at Luana, who was glancing threateningly at him, with the pendent glowing. Eyes widened, the lackey Peterson took off as far away from the Pickles and their friends as possible.

"Whoa!" Phil shook his head. "I guess as long as Luana's wearing that pendent, Stedwell and his nazi lackeys can't get us."

"Let's hope so, Phil," Tommy nodded in agreement. "Let's hope so."


End file.
